NfaN, Book 3: THE KINGDOM OF DEATH
by KairiVenomus
Summary: Two weeks have passed since Lloyd disappeared from the Temple of Forgotten Warriors, & without the Green Ninja, Ninjago is slowly falling apart. Havoc is wreaked in Ninjago City,forcing the other ninja to pause their search for their friend to try & undo the hell released onto their homeland. Eloquim ignites the Great Battle, forcing the Ninja to fear: Will they find Lloyd in time?
1. PROLOGUE

**NIGHTMARES FOR A NINJA, BOOK THREE:**

THE KINGDOM OF DEATH

_Prologue_

THE OVERLORD HOVERED over the map with a nasty swirling motion, glaring down without eyes onto the pressed neat paper tacked to the surface of the wooden table. He—or it, it was impossible to tell—breathed irritability into the air as quickly as it pulsed the purple glow it emanated. Bent over the table with his staff poised in hand, the small cupboard of a shed was lit by the lantern setting by the corner of his workbench, its flame dimming with his ragged breathing. Anger pulsed through his tainted green veins beneath the slick scale of his skin. His claws dug angrily into the rotting wood as he exclaimed, _"This is impossible!" _

"In_deed," _hissed the Overlord, floating to the opposite side of Eloquim's shoulder line. It slipped around in vain as it gave angry cries. "The pathway doesn't make _sense." _

"The Lost City of Ouroboros should be in the _desert," _snapped Eloquim in solid agreement under the dome of the shed hidden in the enclave of the deep, haunted woods. Under the nape of his cloak was the key, wrapped tightly around his throat. The table beneath the map he'd tacked was stained dimly with the gore of previous guts and blood of his enemies. This could be simply referred to, in mortal terms, as _home, _where Eloquim had spent millennium hiding away without the interruptions of human life. Intruders to feed him, while he was forced to hide from the sun before Elathan (in Kai's form) had released him from the banishment of the curse of the sun, were splattered dryly throughout the floor. Their rotted carcasses and bones remained, with the whisper of previous lives in their wholly death.

The Overlord fit his voice into a low, fading grumble. "Then why does this map say it is in the center of Ninjago City?" He asked. Eloquim traced the blood red lines beneath the quickly fading hieroglyphics revealing the single message written in the coded tongue of the Shadow Dancers, his ancestors many years before him. This was the same message he'd threatened the Green Ninja to read—a war of which of course he'd won—in the format of a children's rhyme. Its meaning was still unknown to Eloquim, of course, as he'd been poring over all the evidence he had to his own possession, all of which consisted of this old, single slip of paper. He had nothing to go by but the pathway the map drew, which it seemed now was incorrect.

"The Pool of Truth failed," he spat, stepping away from the table in disgust. "This is no direction to the Shadow Key. This is _useless!" _

The Overlord slipped closer to examine it, illuminating the section he hovered over in a dull purple glow. "I don't see why it would just _fail," _he murmured. "It is a truthful piece of works. How can it fail if it cannot lie?"

Eloquim glared at a mouse corpse lingering in death at his feet. Its bones were easily definable through the haze of darkness. "I don't _know!" _he growled. "It doesn't make sense! The map should've led us to Ouroboros. It should've been truthful and led us to where we can find the Key! Why has it failed us?"

He kicked the mouse's remains in bitterness. They flailed in opposite directions from their disconnectedness, sailing through the miniscule movement allowance the abandoned shed offered. They ricocheted off the walls with _clinks _of deliverance. Frustrated, the otherworldly beast dragged his claws across the wall, peeling away its rotting skin. It curled as it disconnected with the wooden barricade.

"Wait a second," hissed the Overlord. Eloquim paused his tantrum to peer at it. "What if it is telling us the _truth? _What if all along the rumors were wrong, and the Key isn't hidden in Ouroboros?"

Eloquim straightened. "Go on."

"Perhaps maybe the tomb that your ancestors spoke of isn't a tomb within a much larger tomb as we previously expected. Perhaps the map is leading us to where the tomb is, beneath the city of _Ninjago. _Was there ever specification that it was truly Ouroboros that hid the secrets of the Key?"

Eloquim thought for a moment. "I suppose not."

"Precisely! It was only stated that there was a _city _in which it was hidden beneath. Assumptions were made that it was the _Lost _City of Ouroboros." The Overlord's logic was completely understandable. Eloquim felt like an idiot for not figuring it out himself. With a cry, he gave a happy laugh, holding up his hands in the air. He felt triumphant. For two weeks Eloquim had dawdled over this map with a cluelessness he hated to feel, falling slowly to the bottom of the trap, yet over the course of just two insufferable seconds, he'd risen to the top once more, flourishing. A devilish grin spread across his face.

"Overlord, my ingenious friend," he chuckled happily, holding his head high, tilting his chin so his green eyes could be viewed beneath his hood. The Overlord bobbed neatly in the air, as though bowing. "I think you've graciously outdone yourself today!" He quickly untacked the map, this time pouring out his emotions over it with a better understanding of what he was looking at. He couldn't help the smile that covered his face now, unable to pry it off.

"Thank you, my Master," the Overlord answered.

Eloquim's claw touched the speckle where the blood splatter ended, the true location of the Shadow Key, hidden in the dead center of Ninjago City. Not too far from the abandoned woods they were in now, it wouldn't be difficult to find their way in the directions led by the map's red road. His smile turned into a long, loud laugh of success. He turned to his friend.

"We set out for the city at midnight."

_**Inspiration for this chapter: **__Celldweller's "The Seven Sisters." _

**Book 3 focuses a **_**lot **_**on the number 7. KEEP THAT IN MIND! X)**

**I hope you enjoyed this, and come back soon for your next bite of the **_**Nightmare for a Ninja **_**series' book 3: "The Kingdom of Death"! PLEASE REVIEW GUYS! And go have an**_** AWESOME**_** day/night, scream at your greens, and **_**laugh **_**today!**

**(Expect to climb aboard the **_**Bounty 2 **_**for Chapter 1! And I will see you back here tomorrow!)**

**-Kairi Venomus**


	2. Chapter 1: The Talking Cot

_**Visit my profile page under the NIGHTMARES FOR A NINJA section that will give you more info on the (original) characters so you can get to know them better, the NfaN dictionary, and upcoming events! **_

_**NEW TERM: "Consolace" (a term I've used more than once in the NfaN series) is a term passed down by my family through many generations that we alone have created (it's not in the dictionary) that means a multitude of things, depending on context, though usually for the purpose of portraying the phrase "Find peace and let all evils banish."**_

_**Sorry this took so long to upload…but we get a little Jay/Nya/Cole action today. XD**_

THE KINGDOM OF DEATH

_1. The Talking Cot_

"TWO WEEKS," ANNOUNCED the loud, authoritive voice of Caroline Juliens. Its chorus rang through the arguably cramped space provided for those condemned to the underground save haven of the infirmary, causing the room to fill with the echoes of her confidential voice. Light flooded the room as she punched the red button in the doorway. Enveloping Jay in a cocoon of Artificial rays of yellow bursting from the ceiling, he gave a stubborn, muffled groan. It was too early in the day for him to be awake. Since he was sentenced to life in the hospital until his miraculous recovery, Jay was often left lying there staring into the cracks of the wall, able to fully drown in his sorrows without usual interruptions. Except for when the "witch," Dani, entered by soft candlelight to check his stitchings and Pass off glasses of water misted with whatever medications she bestowed to him with the ability to knock him out cold. As you can imagine, the days over the last couple of weeks have dragged at an agonistic pace for him, taking dreadful effects one suffers over. He wasn't allowed to move around much, and for that he was extremely uncomfortable poised flat on this rock hard bed that probably had never been used until he came.

Jay pulled the soft pillow beneath his head over his face to block out the intense light. "Go away, Caroline," he muttered, wishing her away so he could fall back into sleep. She visited him daily, the one visitor he actually bothered to face—other than Sensei Wu and his parents when they were allowed aboard the poised, stationary boat at the outskirts of the biggest city in all of Ninjago—and today seemed to be no variation to the usual routine. Jay liked to think that he and Caroline were good friends now, on relatively nice terms. She recapped just about every day's event for him, since he was stuck in this place for extended periods of time, while sidetracking him with extremely pointless, random conversations to keep him occupied. Grateful, he usually took to listening and having civil, friendly banters with Caroline. He heard the thick squeak of her sitting against the next bed over, the cot they'd figured seemed to be the one who talks the most. She gave a responding sigh to his attempt to ignore her. Jay couldn't roll over—with the stitches extending completely across his stomach—so he pressed the down pillow closer to the comfort of his face. A moment later, it was plucked from his grasp as though he _hadn't _been clutched against his nose.

"Hey!" He gasped, holding his hand over his eyes to block the sudden rays of light pouring into his eyes. It violated his pupils greatly.

She ignored him. Jay peeked through his fingers in squinted eyes to see her wearing a white, oversized sweatshirt advertising a special brand of shoes over a pair of worn out blue jeans, boot cuts over her rough black sneakers. Clasping her hands together at her knees, Caroline's red hair pooled down her shoulders in shiny curls, showing off her newly-gained features from the generous Temple of Light. She blinked at him with brown lashes once before continuing like he'd never spoken.

"It's been _two weeks _since Lloyd went missing, including the fact that Eloquim gained control of the map, and we've heard nothing of _either _of them," she complained, throwing up her hands in defeat. "I've searched through every search engine; reread every newspaper article, read police files along with their unrevealed secrets—"

"You _read police files?" _repeated Jay incredulously. Caroline paused her speech with a dark raised brow. "What, did you hack into the system?"

"Yes," Caroline said matter-of-factly. Jay spluttered in surprise. "Why? Is it really such a crime?"

"Yes!" He cried. "It's a federal offense. They toss you in the slammer for that one!"

Caroline shrugged like it was no big deal, waving it off with the gentle swat of her hand. Jay attempted to ease himself into a slight sitting position, something he'd been working to master over the course of those same two weeks. It was like learning to ride a bike again. A little went a long way. Every time he pushed himself a little further, it allowed him an easier way to look people in the eye and occupy himself twirling his thumbs around each other in the dreariest of days.

He was risen to a one-fifty degree angle, allowing Jay to fully look Caroline in the face. His triumph was short lived, however, when she flopped onto her back across the bed, placing her hands across her flat stomach. "I'm just at a loss. I _never _not know things. And—and this just isn't computing. Lloyd and Seiko were there, right?"

Jay rubbed his wrist. He shriveled down deeper into his cotton grey T-shirt, relaxing his muscles into its slack; Dani, the "witch," told him plenty of times that he _shouldn't _tense his muscles, or it could ruin the stitches. He tried with a swallow to keep down his broiling vomit thinking of what he'd suffered through so long ago.

Caroline was running through again what she knew as a nindroid of the moments leading up to Lloyd and Seiko's disappearance, plus Eloquim's extravagant exit. She'd been doing this every day now while she sorted through her thoughts. "Yes, they were," he agreed, swiping his hair out of his eyes.

She blinked at the ceiling. "Okay. So we saw you falling after Eloquim disappeared. Lloyd was the first to start running to you, and then I followed. He jumped up just at the same time we saw Kai and Zane appear. Zane had already grabbed Garmadon, so Lloyd automatically grabbed the next best thing, which was Seiko. I then used my better springing ability to leap into the air and grab ahold of Darreth, after which I stopped keeping track of them when I saw Zane." Caroline raised herself to her elbows, poising herself so she could look at Jay straight-on. "What did _you _see?"

"Uh," Jay rubbed the side of his nose thoughtfully. "Kai. I saw Kai."

Caroline's hazel eyes rolled. "Anything else?"

Jay thought a moment, wracking his brain past that scarring memory of his torture. _Torture. _He shivered with a brutal wince. It was hard to meet Caroline's eyes after that. "No. As you can imagine I wasn't feeling too spic-n-span."

Caroline groaned inwardly. She fell back to the resort of the squeaky bed's refusal, squeezing shut her eyes with the quick drag of her palms down the length of her face. "I just don't _get _it," she murmured. "I've done _everything. _I've been staring at every picture, video file, and whatnot that Zane has on his memory chip for the past fourteen hours, and I can't seem to grasp what exactly is so special. They're just a bunch of memories," she grumbled.

This made Jay wince again. Memories that started their whole journey into this after-death war they stepped into. Knowing what crap they'd suffered through made him shrivel back into the comfort of the warm blue heating blanket Dani had passed on to him with a generous smile. He'd witnessed death, betrayal, intimate fear, what it felt like to be a father and what it felt like to not be one, heartbreak, agony, emptiness, heartbreak, and heartbreak in just the quick time span of a month. How could his life, so perfect, turn upside down with a core of nightmares waiting to unfold? What they'd been sentenced to experiencing these days was truly something of a nightmare for a ninja like him. He wished that, as he had for quite some time now, that he'd just kept walking off the boat before he'd been kidnapped by Eloquim's slithering goonies, unable to face these things anymore. He'd planned on running to Ninjago, where he yanked every last penny from his precarious savings account to buy the apartment he'd been eyeballing to save for N—he swallowed. Yeah, for her, whose name he didn't even want to think. Jay had planned on beginning a new life without ever looking back at these days as a ninja, as tainted and unusable as they'd become with these unrealistic, supernatural happiness-killers. He'd planned on finding a job somewhere in the city, where he'd become a great neighbor to the rowdy kids down the hall who took it upon themselves to bestow the jobs of roosters in the morning, awakening everyone on the floor at the crack of dawn. He would've tried to forge past the painful things he'd endured these couple of days without _her, _or _him, _or anyone else. Yes, Jay was prepared to leave it all behind—all because he'd broken his heart.

Didn't he deserve at least a fragment of a happy ending? Jay wiped away the light burning into his pupils. No, it seemed, he didn't, for these early days had proven to him that. Jay just hoped _he _was happy with what _he'd_ done to poor Jay. Even if what had happened to _him _was completely visible and the wounds obvious, really, it was Jay who'd been stabbed with that stake, an emotional painkiller to give him that would soon turn him as numb.

He looked to Caroline, who was busy stressing worthlessly over the disappearance of their friend. He wished, like the sick puppy he was, that he could put forth something to the effort to find their missing ninja and _the sister, _but Dani—as well as the renewed Sensei and Julien—insisted that he not move, at least not for a few more days in the future. To this Jay made epic grumbles of disagreement they couldn't hear under the soft whir of the heating blanket they strapped to him. He felt, once more, helpless, wanting to put forth a reason to the cause, yet finding himself still sitting here, twirling his thumbs in the lowest forms of absent minded amusement. Seriously, couldn't they give him Sudoku or something? He was a dead dog in here.

He hated being wounded.

**COLE**

Cole decided, that morning, that he was happy.

Maybe not to the fullest extent (He'd lost, what, a third of his friends?) but from what he saw now and the beckon of his future (assuming it still existed in forty days…) that he had a very promising one. The sun rose willfully in the horizon, extending through the open curtains with gentle urgency. Wind slowly courses through the open vein of the window, bleeding into the room with a newborn, crisp air that Cole inhaled the second it touched his nose. He hadnt been completely asleep those last couple of hours, but it didn't matter. He was as well rested as usual. (Vampire hormones and all.) With Nya's arm wrapped lazily around his bare waist, her face pressed into his chest with a content smile stretched across her lips, he leaned back comfortably, stroking her hair with one hand, the other poised behind the back of his head. Cole's gaze had been fixated on the wooden ceiling above him for the past hour, his mind elsewhere, like he was in some different realm mentally. He tucked Nya's head beneath his chin and, with a loving kiss to the top of her head, wrapped his arms around her to bury away his troubles in her sweet, flowery scent.

However much Cole could try to lie to himself, it didn't seem to be working. Worry was primitive, yet somehow continuously he felt it, unable to shake the feeling that Seiko wasn't safe. His younger sister, Seiko Mitsuhide, had disappeared within the same dim frame that Lloyd had, leaving everyone to mentally rupture and emotionally crack. Cole felt like a pretty crappy protector for letting Lloyd disappear. No, he felt even crappier for not being able to hold his own against—of all the opponents—a wooden stake. What seemed to be the most harmless of weapons became a lethal injection that could take him out with one blow. The torturous memory of the stake piercing through his skin after the quick, drawn snarl of the venomous white ash tossed to his skin still lingered fitfully in his dreams. As before he'd feared his past—the day he changed—ambling through his nightmares with hooked canines, he now couldn't seem to shake the way déjà vu ripped through him. No one could ever know how utterly _awful _it felt to have the one thing that can kill you pierce your skin, drive to your heart, and stop it. If it weren't for teaching Nya more about vampirism, he would've eternally suffered in that damned half-in-half-out world he existed to once his skin began to gray under the unholy light of Eloquim's glowing ego. It had been nice to see that their lost brothers, Kai Smith and Zane Montgomery, still roamed behind them through the art of invisibility, but suffering through the penalty of watching your loved ones look right through you would have surely driven him mad. He didn't know how they could make it. Just the moments Cole had spent there had been enough.

_The moments. _Barely skimming over the thoughts, he thought about climbing aboard the _Bounty 2 _after Kai and Zane to run after his body, finding Nya doing just as he wished she would, digging for his thread of rope containing the vial that held his only savior in its noose. It had almost been too hard to bear Nya clambering tears over his body. It admonished him the thought that he actually really _was _dead, when his medicine refused to work. That was when Kai had told him the last words Cole would ever hear come from his fallen brother's mouth: "Tell her I love her, and you'd _better _keep her safe, Cole Mitsuhide, or I'm going to come back from the dead to specifically haunt your ass."

It was heartbreaking, thinking about never coming back, knowing he'd have to leave Nya to herself and that his heartbeat—though technically it hadn't existed in the slow moments leading up to his demise—wouldn't rumble through him ever again. Just imagining the consequence now made it difficult to breathe properly, a feat in which he'd experienced multiple times, as someone who kept with a strength/conditioning routine the majority of his life. But Cole didn't know what to feel worse about: the fact that he'd died so _stupidly, _or the fact that he'd been suddenly, sparingly, shockingly prepared to let it all go, drop everything to die—everything including _Seiko? _

Over the years and epic time spans it had taken Cole to get used to Kai, it was obvious in him that there was nothing he _wouldn't _do for Nya, once upon a time. It seemed the only thing there was for him to his sister was protection, care, love when she needed it. Blindly he'd swing his fists and crawl through broken glass to save her, to ensure her safety. Every time Cole had witnessed such affections between siblings it had caused guiltiness inside him that he hadn't ever tolerated well. Calling Seiko while off saving the world as she rotted to herself in the Oppenheimer never sorted safely in his heart. He wanted to run after her every time he thought about it, to clutch her from the means of the Oppenheimer's restricting walls, though things kept veering into his roadway to keep him from saving her. He never had _time, _and now he regretted being selfish, daring not veer from fate's path. Now he had no idea where she was. She was lost. Without him.

Seiko trusted him once. He used to be the person she looked up to, admired, turned to. This was how Cole repaid her—misplacing her in the middle of a burning Temple. What a _great _brother he was, compared to Kai.

Sarcasm intended.

Cole gave an intimately inward groan, letting go of Nya to drag his hands through his hair, blinking away dust in his eyes. Just as he did so, he felt her tighten her grip on him, nails digging into his skin with the sound of water being squeezed from a soaked dishtowel; the squirting noise of his flesh being torn didn't hurt only but to his ears. He glanced downwards at her crescent body with a reproving glance.

That was when her head tilted upwards to reveal her wide, beautiful light brown eyes, blinking away the lazy sleep it had taken to course through the night. She pulled away her bloody fingers to stick it to his lips. After a seconds hesitation worth to sneak in a half-smile, Cole ran his hands down her back, tugging her closer. Nya gave a dreamy sigh into the warmth of his chest, heating his insides, before deciding, with a calm, cool manner, to pull herself improperly upwards to straddle his hips. Cole's brow raised.

"How long have you been awake?" he asked, lending her his hand so she could trace the patterns of his veins along his wrists. Nya's small, slender fingertips gently maneuvered the maze of his intricate blood system. Her hair, grown to her shoulder line, was messy in an oddly attractive way that matched her floral patterned borrowed pajamas.

"A while," she admitted sheepishly, conjuring up courage to look him in the eye. "I couldn't fall back asleep once I heard your thoughts."

With a slight reaction to the idea, Cole found himself wondering about the process of mentally projecting his thoughts. Noticing he'd done so was partially embarrassing to someone who already hated people to know what he thought in the first place, though quickly reminded that it was Nya, who wouldn't judge him. It was his turn to use her hands as a distraction.

"What did you hear?" He asked quietly.

Instead of answering him, though, Nya pressed, looking to him with a determined stare. "How come you never told me about Seiko?"

_Ah. _So that was the purpose, then. Cole reset his mind to the previous calm state and relaxed against the pillows he rested against. He rubbed at Nya's thighs, trying _not _to notice the way her body pressed against his. "You never asked."

"I swear, I've asked _all _of you if you've had any siblings," Nya countered. "I swear. All of you replied with a definite _no." _

Cole pursed his lips. "Okay."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Baby," Cole sighed, rubbing his eyes. He hoped that she wasn't going to get angry with him over something so petty and ridiculous. Couples had dared split over measures half as pretentious. He couldn't imagine beginning such a process—for he didn't know what he'd ever do without her. "Don't take it personally, okay? I just—I don't like talking about that part of my life."

"Which part?" Nya pressed. "Are you embarrassed of her?"

Cole's gaze snapped upwards in surprise. "Why would I be embarrassed of her?"

Nya shrugged. "You saw how she reacted to us in the Temple. She tried to kill us. She acted…" Her voice trailed off, leaving the unsaid cliffhanger. But Cole knew people's thoughts well enough to draw away his own conclusions, ones that made him mildly irritated when encountered. He answered with an agitated groan.

"Look, I know what you're thinking," he started. "But it isn't like that. Seiko has always been different, but that doesn't mean that she's _crazy. _She sees life differently than most people do."

"Different?" repeated Nya, softly incredulous. "Cole, she came at us with _bones." _

"Which you knew wouldn't have killed you."

"Regardless! I just—"

"Seiko's not crazy, okay?" Cole said again, only this time it was more for his benefit than for Nya's answers. He believed as deep as the channel sickened. _Consolace, _once said his mother, _is a thought to keep in mind. Judging those who cannot judge themselves is like flying an airplane that only knows how to crash. _

Nya nodded understandingly, touching his face with her soft fingertips to portray her apology. "I don't mean to offend you, or her," she whispered. "I just wish you had told me so that I could have been better prepared."

Cole stroked her arms. "What's there to tell? I've got a sister who's different?"

There wasn't much specialty behind the words, but Nya found them, plucking them from the simplest and weaving them into her own personal brand of understanding. "Yes," she whispered, holding his face to her palms. "That would've been nice." Though there was no anger, he felt like he'd somehow disappointed her, letting her down in some weird, sick way. He touched her arms gently.

Then Nya gasped sharply. She withdrew her hands, drawing them to her stomach, where they clasped protectively over the soft curve of her pregnant belly. Cole sat upwards so fast it would've made a human's head whirl; within seconds of her intake of breath he'd fixed her so she was no longer pinning him down. At her bewildered expression accompanied by her heavy breathing, he felt fear strike his heart. Cole clutched her whenever he could find a hand. "Nya?" He asked urgently, putting his hands over hers. She didn't appreciate it, however, taking into hers his palms, squeezing them tight enough to snap a mortal's bones. Luckily he was no mortal and only suffered minor bruises. "Nya, what's wrong?" he asked, touching her stomach as she had. Nya responded in a breathless, baffled tone, as though she couldn't believe any of it herself.

"Cole, I swear to God…the baby just _kicked _me."

**MUSIC INSPIRING THIS CHAPTER:**_Celldweller__**-**__It Makes No Difference Who We Are & Fay Wolf-The Thread of the Thing_

**EEEK! Finally, the baby's alive and kicking! XP so Please, please, please review, guys! I love hearing your feedback! Also, keep an eye out on DeviantArt for the next full-cast promo for THE KINGDOM OF DEATH! It's so far my favorite drawing…IF I can get it to actually SCAN properly onto my SCANNER… DX**

**Oh, and BTW- GO HAVE AN AWESOME DAY/NIGHT!**


	3. Chapter 2: The Fire Lord's Son

**I'm sorry this took so long, but I've been busy with homework and writer's block. :/ But it's here now! And I apologize so much for the wait, and also that this is a Seiko POV. ;_; I know you guys probs hate OC POVs. But I wanted to do one from her bc, well, what's the point of having one if they don't get a little action sometimes? :D **

****Note: Also remember that Lloyd turned off his humanity switch, and no longer has emotions! **

THE KINGDOM OF DEATH

_2. The Fire Lord's Son_

_ONE AND A HALF WEEKS AGO_

THIS IS HOW AN ATYPICAL DAY hidden beneath the earth's crust went: There would be no beckon of a sunrise (after all, there were two moons sprawled across the sky rather than a replacement sun,) so Seiko would have to make an inference when she woke up after every interval of sleep. Her muscles still ached from hauling the green ninja's limp body across the red hearth after her initial awakening. It had taken every willful ounce of strength in the thin girl's body to find herself capable of towing him into the small cave she'd found caressing the edge of a nearby mountain. It was the perfect size, cozy, and safely padded with sand rather than the crusted over ground excuse she now crept across with ballet shoed feet.

Her understanding of why they were banished here was dim. Seiko didn't know why, nor how, she and the golden robed boy had made it into this realm bathed in somber shades of red, but she had dreamed enough nightmares of this place to know where they'd fallen into. Hell seemed colder than the fiery pits all had described it as. She liked to think that this was another one of those unearthly nightmares where she was sucked into its damning clutches—but everything she experienced now was as real as her cool fingertips crawling up her dirtied arms.

Nearby their hideout Seiko had discovered a village she robbed every day using her quick, lithe abilities to provide food and water to herself and the green ninja, whose name she couldn't immediately conjure to mind. Though it rested against the tip of her tongue, she found it wasn't easy to just pry it off her taste buds. But deep within her, name or no name, Seiko knew she had to do to the best of her abilities to keep him alive. Survival was key in these parts of the universe, where strange creatures roamed the cracked surface with bemoaning groans of displeasure. Seiko wrapped the black cloak she had stolen from a cart in the middle of the villa closer to her small body. It provided her a sufficient means of a masquerade with it's high hood to shield her face from onlookers.

The creatures that lived in this sector of the world were nothing of the era Seiko had been raised into. Their families consisted of mixtures of animalistic things she had only ever discovered through Cole's bedtime stories. He'd whisper them to her in the dark of their bedroom with the shadows as her mind's canvas and imagination her own worst enemy. The fictional beasts of his tall tales actually proved to exist before her every time she entered the village with her hood drawn tightly over her face. Minotaurs, satyrs, and even the occasional centaur passed her by with smoke billowing out its nostrils. She kept her steps light, crossing beneath the wooden arch exclaiming to her strange words in a mysterious form of language she couldn't read. Through the art of similar letters, Seiko made a mortal's connection that it should just be called "Stickfigure" because of the way the strange hieroglyphics spelled themselves.

Stickfigure wasn't promising. The thin road was unpaved and cracked. Along its ugly consistency were tufts of random creatures mingling by the shops, which arguably were only carts steadied to the ground by ropes. They were businesses that would've been undesirable back in Ninjago. When your store was being up kept out the back of your car, your financial issues were obvious; yet these creatures treated it like it was normal. For a stretch of miles all she could see were olden, hand painted signs with the same odd characters expressing the shop's title. Each of them sold something unique to their own design: beaded coin bags for females, decorated knife sheaths for men. Where Seiko took her interest was a place hidden towards the distance. She didn't know why the food and beverage stores were located so far away from Stickfigure's entrance, but she couldn't find the will to argue. Her focus remained on weaving through the crowds of unconditionally fictitious mythology walking in front of her, sprung to life from the pages of a story book.

Every time Seiko was able to get a good look at the dark blue, matted fur of a minotaur she had to resist the urge to gag. Their combined stench made her eyes water. It was too pungent for her to manage through. It left her gasping for breath at the end of every journey's return, with a sickening broil in her empty stomach.

Centaurs almost stomped atop her. She couldn't resist small cries when she dodged yet again another near-death experience to add to the many she'd already suffered through. The horse hind of a tall centaur whipped backwards to turn in her direction while Seiko shivered back against a nearby wooden pole staked to the ground. The barren abdomen of a man replaced where the mustang's head should've been, though his skin was a translucent shade of gray. Much like that of Cole's after he'd been staked—Seiko swallowed the lump in her throat. She would cry (which became a routine) after she'd returned to the unconscious green ninja, who she swore had to be in a coma. But for now, the young girl had to remain strong. She straightened her back without raising her face to show what lay beneath her hood, hoping to appear mystic and unearthly.

The male centaur peered down at her. Its chest lacked muscle, much unlike anything Seiko had ever seen in paintings that her nurse—who was actually nice—named Candice had shown her. Candice had been a history junkie, which was where Seiko had ever learned any of these things' names in the first place. She didn't want to look into his agitated eyes again. Instead, she used her wits to decide speaking in the tongue of mortals could give away her humanity, interchanging her words with that of phrases her mother taught her in Chinese. "_Yìhán_," she murmured, before turning abruptly to run away.

Seiko's heart didn't fall from her throat until she'd reached a safe distance. The incessant pounding of her veins against her pale skin could've been visible, it was so vigorous. With a weary glance over her shoulder, the frightened girl was able to discover the centaur's attention divided elsewhere. With a relieved sigh she was able to turn back to the rows of unusual fruits, meats, and plants available to steal.

Seiko's keen, nimble movements allowed her to dodge prying eyes. She was more of a master in the arts of pickpocketing, thanks to years of stealing things out of the waistcoats of unexpecting nurses. She scoured the golden, circular coins caressed in palms of satyrs nearby. She'd learned the goat people enjoyed leafy substances and fruits over the hard core animal legs sold opposite their trending villa shops. Seiko followed their lead, deciding mystery meat wasn't on the menu, if at all optional. She eyeballed a sheepish teen couple to her far left. (Pardon the pun.) Passing off the small 'baa's as giggles from the girl, Seiko watched the boy purchase her one of those delectable, circular red fruits of which she called "Blood Berries." It could easily fit in one's palm, and when bitten, silky red juice blessed tongues. Seiko had wanted to try one. Her reluctance came from squeamishness at bloody horrors—what if it was actually real blood?

_Well, _Seiko thought quietly to herself,_ If Cole can manage to be a vampire, you can be just fine. I mean, think about all those who suffered terrible ends at your hands..._

She shivered. Aloof, commoners of exotic backgrounds ignored her, hovering quietly in the shadows. A bag of fresh bread was bought by a nearby centaur from an old goat behind the counter. His beard's scruff fell pure white against his chin, eyes peering through small, rectangular lenses. Except for the horns protruding from the snowy curls atop his head, this creature could've been mistaken for human, if Seiko hadn't been watching him for three days. She inched forward in curiosity. Behind him in his small shop, lower half hidden by the worn wooden counter in front of him, breads and fruits and brightly colored nutrients gleamed. Seiko's stomach growled in protest. Out of pure humanitarian kindness, Seiko usually fed the green ninja the majority of the scraps she salvaged, knowing as a boy older and stronger than she that he needed the protein better to help him wake from his hazy daze. She used her hand as a cover for her screaming organs.

The old goat man's Crinkled eyes fell on her with kind gentility. Seiko considered running. Then she figured better of it not to create two unholy scenes in a matter of minutes within each other. She inched forward slowly.

The satyr smiled. She noticed he looked like her grandfather, though that was a connection made through number of smile wrinkles, not true genetic similarities. He spoke something to her in ancient tongue of hell creatures she didn't understand. She stared cluelessly at him.

A moment later, the satyr grinned. "You're not from around here, are you, Dancer?" he asked. At the instantaneous title given Seiko looked over her shoulder to see if there was someone else he was talking to. She came up empty handed. Seiko turned back to him with furrowed brows. The old man's face lit more. "Yes, you, I'm talking to you, young Shadow Dancer," he laughed. Seiko frowned again. Shadow Dancer. Why did that sound so familiar?

"I couldn't help but notice your reflective cloak," added the old man in a Friendly tone to spark up conversation. Seiko, for an unusual, random moment, was pleased to obtain positive interaction with someone who wasn't being paid to act nice. "I must say that is fabric of fine quality! I'm sure if suns existed here, you'd be happily safe from harm." The old man rubbed at the back of his withering hand.

Seiko touched the edge of the counter. The cloak she'd stolen must've belonged to...whatever the old man had called her. She decided it be better to play along. She thanked whatever lord watched over her for giving her the brains to steal the cloak before responding to the friendly satyr, "I didn't know satyrs spoke human."

The old man laughed. "Not many do," he admitted. "It's a collective art, really. Takes a lot of concentration to focus on getting the—what are they called?—_R_'s right. But it's no shock to me a Shadow Dancer's taken up the language." His friendly smile winked a moment later before it faded into a questioning glance. "I don't see many Dancers in these parts. What brings you here?"

Seiko wracked her brain for a brainy excuse, stuttering a moment of wait before she coughed out honestly, "I've been wandering a while. I got lost."

She half expected the satyr to frown with a claim that Shadow Dancers—whatever they were—didn't get lost, but he only gifted her an empathetic bat of white eyelashes. "It's easy to get lost around here," he agreed. "Hell is such a big tact of land to cover." His icy blue eyes examined her a moment longer through his spectacles. Seiko gently rested her fingers in the crook of the edge of the counter. Nervously she kneaded the wetted wood with her long finger nails. She pleaded with whomever had watched over her before still watched, hoping this hybrid wouldn't see through her lies. To Seiko's credit, she had partially been telling the truth.

But the old satyr saw nothing, though he had plenty of questions. "You look young for a Dancer," he observed. Seiko's heart dropped. "You must just be a little over a hundred."

Seiko swallowed hard. _Uh oh_. Instead of answering, she raised her shoulder in a half shrug. Her nails dug into the wood further. Cluelessly, she peeked into his face under the curtain of her thin black bangs, hanging over her right eye. She was completely unsure of how to respond.

And she had the feeling the satyr knew it.

"Is there something you want to buy?" asked the satyr. His tone was not impatient, but Seiko could feel his suspicion tingle across her skin, standing her hairs on end.

"No means of pay," she answered hoarsely after a moment. Her hands shook with fear.

The satyr nodded slowly. "Shame," he murmured, "but understandable. With the King's disappearance, monthly allowances have declined. If only they'd just inaugurate his son so we can get back to our lives."

Seiko nodded, glad she was no longer of the main topic. "I heard many rumors of his disappearance," she gossiped. It was true. The natives seemed not to converse about anything else. Every creature came up with its own explanation for why he suddenly removed himself from office with no trace left behind. Some believed death, others believed kidnappers stole him from his perch, and more thought things Seiko couldn't even fathom. The ideas these people came up with we're far more gruesome than anything she would've thought herself. She fought a shiver.

The satyr seemed to understand completely. He ducked beneath the counter with a hand still poised to the countertop, still speaking. "As have I," he agreed. "I've heard some bogus things. Completely unreal ones. What do humans call it? 'Gnarly'?" When he returned to full height, he had a grin on his face, brought by Seiko's small giggles. In his hand he held what she delightfully recognized as a Blood Berry. He held it out to her in his pale, white human hand. "As to see you're starved from your journey, why not take a Dapplejuno?"

Seiko held out her hand hesitantly. The fruit dropped to her fingers, smooth and rough at the same time. Fascinated, Seiko stroked the tiny, peach-like hairs encircling its soft skin. "Is that what they're called?" she asked. It's red ball was completely beautiful to someone who'd been dying to try one since she's ever laid eyes on it. Her eyes met the wise ones of the old satyr with a blatant thankfulness. He smiled back respectfully. "I am grateful for your kindness," she said quietly. Maybe there is good in every dark place, she thought. Even in hell.

The satyr dusted away his countertop, though there was no dirt infecting it. "Run along," he shooed with a smile. "I'm surprised you've lingered this long, with the Sunburst coming."

Seiko was instantly consumed with confusion, but the satyr knew more of this world than she did. Seiko gave a final respectful how before turning to scamper in the opposite direction. She would have to somehow either hide from the old creature or return to the green ninja with just a Dapplejuno in hand.

Indecision ate at her insides, but she didn't have long to fray over it. From behind her, there was a loud cry of anger. She whirled.

"Thief!" shouted the satyr she'd just run from. "Thief! Stop her! She robbed me of a Dapplejuno! Thief!"

Seiko's heart began to pound. A trick! All collective creatures turned towards her with equal but opposite grimaces and scowls ready. She gasped. Oh, no, she thought miserably. Minotaur's removed their sheathed knives, centaurs grabbing swords by the hilt, all pointed at her. She swallowed the dark disappointment riveting her insides to stillness.

"Get her!" shouted a voice. Seiko looked around wildly for a means of escape. Her eyes rested on the thin crook between two shops leading out into the back alleys. She decided, with a snap decision, to make a run for it, running between the legs of a centaur. It roared angrily.

Seiko's heart didn't rest. And neither did her opponents. Too soon her escape rout was blocked by a minotaur, who towered over her taller than her brother did. Or...used to. However that could be expressed now. Knowing no better, Seiko skidded to a stop, letting shafts and small rocks catapult under the force of her feet. Her flats had to be worn so roughly to the nub that there was hardly a sole separating her skin from the cracked earth beneath her. She couldn't stop the terrified squeal shooting from her mouth. Though Cole may have had plenty experience with dangerous, unearthly beasts, the only monsters Seiko had ever dealt with only existed in her mind. She covered her head with her hands. _I will not break down_, she repeated to herself unconvincingly. _I will not break down. I will not—_

The strange language of the hell-driven creatures was exchanged between them. The only words she understood were that of, with a strange lisping sound, "Shadow Dancer," though she still didn't have the slightest what that meant. Over her head they were talking about her. She glanced up to the peculiar kilt the Minotaur was wearing and had a strange thought, one she wasn't too fond of. But if Seiko wanted to survive—and that was the only instinct she ever had known—she had to do what needed to be done.

Judging entirely by the minotaur's deep voice and keen ability to wield his twin daggers skillfully, Seiko used her pitcher's arm to her advantage. She didn't waste time aiming. She blindly threw the Dapplejuno just as the centaur behind her reached for her. It sailed in a perfect line in the direction of the minotaur's crotch. A moment later it howled in anger. Or, should Seiko say, _he_ howled with anger. The beast doubled over in pain.

Seiko ran for the unmanned exit. But her escape was by no means successful. The beast took a hold of her ankle just as she skirted around its crouched pain reliever. Oh, great, she thought, kicking with her free leg. The giant returned to full height—if not still wincing with the ache—with Seiko's leg in its large, meaty, hairy grasp. It breathed smelly puffs of dirty breath into her face, exerting a certain unwashed smell into her skin. Seiko coughed away the consuming smell. She was afraid she'd be unable to rid herself of the stench for the rest of her miserable life.

Assuming she made it out alive, that is.

"Let—me—go, you filthy, rotten—" Seiko's thought remained unfinished. With grunts of attempt, she tried to be freed, but more complications emerged. The cloak she'd robbed from the unsuspecting goat yesterday now fell from her body after being turned upside down, revealing the scanty thin white shirt and purple skort beneath. She gasped.

"Human-scum!" managed the minotaur with responding groans of displeasure. Seiko knew enough that somehow she'd given up her true identity as a mortal caught in hell. It made her become a mouse caught in a pack of bloodthirsty cats raging for her death. The odds of her winning were clearly impossible compared to the fact that, other than the extreme height of these mythical creatures over her five feet range, they had skinning weapons already prepared for her. A centaur unsheathed his long, thin blade, holding it outwards. Seiko struggled against the minotaur's grip.

"I would rather like to eat it," said the beast in language she actually understood. She actually felt blood rush to her head. "This one doesn't have a lot of meat on it, but it'll do."

"You don't get to eat it!" argued the centaur, dropping the tip of his blade to the ground. "It's more fun if we skin it."

"Wha' good is that?" argued the Minotaur. It shook Seiko in its grasp, knocking her brain painfully against her skull. Her head spun. "Then it'll jus' be a pile a blood an' bones."

The centaur threw up his hands. "That's the _poinr_. They're not supposed to be delectible—it's a _human_. It's from Aboveground. They carry _diseases_!"

Seiko snorted, despite herself. She dangled while her words slipped negatively from her mouth. "The only thing around here that has diseases is YOU," she spat. The Minotaur's large head reared back in surprise. "Have you ever HEARD of a bath? Seriously. Who knows what kind of termites are living in your fur? Oh, and TOOTHPASTE. It works like a charm. Are you married?" She asked, eyeballing the Minotaur.

He scratched his head beside his long, curled horn. His black eyes glistened. "Well...no," admitted the beast.

"Maybe it's because you smell rancid," Seiko bitterly growled. The minotaur's brows, barely visible with dark hair, raised. "No lady is going to want to date you, much less MARRY you, if you smell that way. There's stuff called SHAMPOO and it works like a charm. You'll be good as new if you just take a bath."

The Minotaur looked to the half horseman. "Is it true? Do I really stink?"

The centaur facepalmed. "Oh, my Elathan—Cornelius, it's trying to distract you!"

Cornelius the bull looked at her. "Oh. Right. Human scum."

"But," added the centaur under his breath, "you do have an odor to you."

"'Scuse you?" the Minotaur stared incredulously. Seiko realized that she had an upper playing hand in this. She continued to try and ring her way out under the bickering. The centaur gained a sheepish tone.

"Well, it's really kind of a…you know, it's more of a slight, er, stench, rather than an ODOR. " At the invaluable insult, the Minotaur bared his ugly yellow teeth. Seiko saw them slick with spit and grime. Grimacing, she wriggled through the loose grip of the bull's unnatural hand. There was enough leeway for her to be able to start to edge herself out his grip.

"So you fink I smell?" the Minotaur moaned. "'anks for bein' a friend, Gallius. Is that why Kili 'fused to dance wif me that day?"

Seiko wriggled further from his grip. She was almost out his hand, the ground closer with every inch. There was triumph on her tongue glowing so bright it made her head pound—or maybe that was just the blood. She reached closer to the hearth's sanctuary a moment too late. The Minotaur saw her plans of escape and pulled her up so fast her head spun. He overturned her so his grip clenched around her waist rather than numb ankle. The blood flew sullenly back down her veins. Struggling, Seiko pushed her hands down against his fingers, praying to her guardian angel as she did.

"'Ey! Where you think yer goin'?" snarled the ox. His grip on her waist tightened. "You trying to run away!" He stated. Seiko writhed, her breath hard to come by with the more of it squeezed from her lungs. Her strangled noises made him squeeze harder. "Why I oughtta eat you now! Oh, I oughtta jus—"

_"LET HER GOOOOOOO!" _Seiko craned her neck to see the sudden burst of light from the crowd blind her. Creatures recoiled from the unnatural rays of sunlight , though where it came from was no sun. Seiko's heart lifted just as the green ninja burst through the gathering to emerge at the Minotaur's hooves, holding out his defensive stance with a frown. At the sight of him awake and alive, her heart did an unnatural turn, stomach flopping. She never understood why she got this familiar tingle in her belly whenever her eyes rested on him, but at this particular moment, Seiko didn't care. The ninja had come to SAVE her.

"What's this?" asked the Minotaur. "A glowing gel-stick?"

"Wrong," said the green ninja. His golden hair fell menacingly over his crystal eyes. His body moved in a twisting way that told Seiko he was just about to do that spinning thing the ninja did, though she didn't reveal this to anyone. The Minotaur clutched at her harder.

"Wha' is it, then? It's bright."

Once again she tried to think of his name. A dark smile crossed the boy's lips. She dug her nails into the minotaur's chunky finger.

"The name's Lloyd," answered the green ninja. Recognition filled Seiko's mind. The Minotaur frowned. "Lloyd Garmadon."

There were simultaneous gasps throughout the crowd, like ripples of waves. Seiko scratched the Minotaur's finger deeper with her sharp nails, feeling blood begin underneath her hands. At that same moment, the centaur looked to him with an equally bewildered glance. "Lord Garmadon's... son?" he whispered. Lloyd's eyebrow shot up.

"Yeah," he said casually. His hands turned to fists. He waited no longer for trouble to slowly form. He caused the fight himself, twisting into the golden tornado he'd used in the Temple Seiko had been imprisoned in, knocking aside who lingered too close for comfort. His powerful, glowing twister smacked hard into the ox's hooves, agitating the cracks to even deeper canyons to his feet, but not without slicing into its crooked legs. The hairy barbarian bayed at the sudden suffering. With that, his grip completely disappeared from Seiko's captivity, sending her falling from the many many feet up in the air towards the ground. Seiko needn't worry, however; Lloyd's arms quickly wrapped around her, catching her from near death. She felt his warmth consume her. Seiko caught his eyes as they spun—she would've gotten sick if not for the yellow barrier surrounding them from the world, and Lloyd's bright blue eyes, meeting hers. There wasn't emotion in them, but there was yet another flicker coursing between the two, an oddity that both confused her and made her heart pound roughly against her chest. His grip on her tightened as he kicked aside a wandering satyr.

"Hang on and close your eyes," he warned, breaking their eccentric connection when he tore his eyes away. Seiko obeyed, burying her face into his chest as something marvelous happened beyond her sight. There were multiple cries of stupefaction resulting his actions. She grabbed tightly onto the silky material of his golden ninja uniform. Then she heard the sharp cry of flames: Lloyd had started a fire.

His spinning ceased to reveal the sight of Cornelius' fur engulfed in flames. Seiko's eyes widened at the thick burn, but Lloyd grabbed her hand. "Come on!" He cried over the shrieks. "Let's go!"

Seiko held tightly onto Lloyd's fingers, following him in her flats through the crowd. Her knees were still shaky without all the blood back into them, but she endured it, channeling her inner willpower to shove her through the dirt. Lloyd pulled her closer as behind them, Cornelius blew up in flames.

"Almost there!" he announced when they came within ten feet of the exit. Seiko ran faster for her means of escape. The threshold was just within a pinky toe's reach when there was the awful sound of responding flames in front of him. They appeared from nowhere. Turning into a wall blocking them from the exit. Veering to a halt, Seiko glanced at Lloyd, half expecting him to be the cause of this obstacle, but he remained emotionless. He turned his head to glance over his shoulder.

Seiko did the same. And what she saw was NOT a pretty sight to see.

There stood a jest boy, no older than Lloyd, with a familiar red-orange cape and flame encumbered headdress to mimic that of fire. His yellow armor gleamed unpunctured against the real torch behind them. His tight undershirt and matching black pants held the same design of golden curlicues. And his heavy black boots crunched against the earth as he wandered closer to them. Seiko stepped closer to Lloyd.

His face, however, didn't match last time. No pointy hair, no green eyes. His thin locks reached his shoulders, pin straight, shiny. Bangs of silver hair fell over his forehead, calling into his eyes, a glistening brown. _Except _over his right one there was a nasty, puckered red scar, seemingly fresh, the skin surrounding it a pink. He was unfamiliar to Seiko, yet he looked just like the other evil one she'd seen in the Temple-Kai something or other. At her side, Lloyd's fists clenched beneath his black gloves.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The dark eyebrow above the scar raised questioningly. "Better for you to answer than me," countered the stranger. Seiko hovered a step closer to Lloyd. "After all, you're humans crossing into _my_ land."

"_Your _land?"

The boy nodded. "Well, duh," he said. He rubbed the tips of his leathery gloves together. "I did inherit it, after all." He grinned, winking at Seiko, giving her a flirtatious smile that made her want to retch. Lloyd took a step in front of her to shield her from the suited boy's disgusting glances. She peered around his shoulder at him with her one eye that wasn't covered by her long ebony bangs. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. You're just the one coming in here and making my fiends become torches, so."

"Let us go," snarled Lloyd. _Why don't you just freeze the fire? _Seiko wondered dimly. _You have the power…_

The boy seemed to consider it. He tapped his fingers to his pale lips. "Nah," he said after a moment. "I think I'd like to take you more as my _prisoners _than anything else."

"Ha! Your _prisoners? _I'd like to see you try," Lloyd growled. The boy's eyebrows shot beneath his bangs. A flicker of blue fire came as called to the snap of his fingertips, the hottest of flames possible. Seiko reached her hand into Lloyd's, giving it a tight squeeze. Her other hand rested comfortably in between his shoulder blades, like it was formed just to fit her hand into its caress. She inched closer. _"Let's go," _she whispered, sensing danger rising up her spine.

"Oh, you'll listen," the boy rubbed together his fingertips, oblivious to Seiko's whispers. Lloyd scowled at him. The boy pursed his lips with a slow nod. "Of course you will. You know why?"

"Do tell," Lloyd growled.

"Because I'm your King. And all creatures in my land must bow down to _me." _The boy stepped forward, his boots crunching closer on the gravel. Lloyd squeezed Seiko's hand.

"_Get back," _he whispered. Then, to the boy, he said more loudly, "You're not the King. Elathan is gone."

The boy smiled intolerably. "And you wouldn't know anything about that, would you? For now," he said, "the rightful son gets to take his place until his safe return."

"Kai isn't here," Lloyd snarled. "So that makes you, what, the servant?"

There was a menacing laugh that came from the throat of the stranger, a chilling one at that. Seiko took a small step back, but not without also yanking onto Lloyd, pulling him with her. "So you know about my estranged brother," he chuckled. "Good for you. But Kai is useless. That makes me the rightful heir to the throne. I am Noel Smith. And you will _bow to me, _Lloyd Garmadon_." _

Lloyd didn't bow, so neither did Seiko. Noel nodded with an observant frown. "I see how it is. That's fine. We'll just have to give you motivation."

And then Seiko felt a skull splitting pain shoot through her brain, electrifying her neurological nerves into a numb explosion. She collapsed to the ground with a fitful scream. It rippled up her spine, grabbing onto her bones with a chilling hand and squeezing. The misery of her suffering under this strange eruption in her skull took over her body until she'd become nothing but humanoid afflictions. Lloyd fell to his knees beside her as she fell into a writhe. "Seiko!" he gasped. "Seiko!"

The last thing she saw were his emotionless blue eyes staring willfully into hers before the world around her faded into nothing but an obsidian cloak of black.


	4. Chapter 3: Rewriting the Wrongs

**NOTE: ****You guys should go read my best friend Ivy's Ninjago fanfic, called "Open Your Eyes"! I helped her write the chapter during free period yesterday (Sadly, she had no clue how to properly combine sentences) so with my coaching, she's going to dish out a R&J type fanfic. I actually think it's a really good one! (other than the fact that I practically WROTE the first chapter….) ;D **

**This chapter is kind of a little sad. I know. Sorry for the long wait, you guys, but here it is! **

THE KINGDOM OF DEATH

_3. Rewriting the Wrongs_

"NO, NO, NO, you're doing it all wrong," Cole dropped his padded hands. They fell to his side uselessly. The thick, heavy makeshift mattress padding served as hand dummies since real pads didn't seem to exist in a nindroid's world. "You have to do more than just HIT it, Caroline, you have to actually punch it, as hard as you can. Otherwise all you're doing is making your opponent laugh at you."

Caroline dropped her defensive stance. Through the window crawled the early sunrise, landing in rectangles across his skin. Since Dani banished him from Nya's little conference in the infirmary, Cole had made a decision to help Sensei Wu begin training Caroline for the day, bringing her closer and closer to means of becoming an actual ninja. So far, with Wu standing over their discussion with a cautious, observant eye, Caroline was pretty much failing at something so simple as mere hand-to-hand combat.

She tugged uncomfortably at her shorts. Her long hair was pulled away from her face in a light ponytail, but her bangs and other various strands of random hair escaped from the clutches of her hair band. She pushed it away from her face irritably. "Well, I don't want to HURT you," Caroline protested. Her hands flew into the air to land back at her side.

Cole rolled his eyes. "You're not going to hurt me," he said, "I'm the ninja of earth. Hard as a rock. See?" He tapped on his arm. "Now, come on. Zane didn't give you these powers for nothing. Hit me with all you got."

"Cole is right," Sensei said wisely. He held out his staff to poke Caroline in the stomach. "You must harness your inner powers. You underestimate your abilities, Caroline; you must find your strength."

"I _have_ strength," Caroline grumbled, but lifted her fists again into a defensive position. Cole crouched to give her more of an advantage. She was a little shorter than he was; having to aim your punches upwards when hitting straight was even a challenge didn't count fairly. Cole nodded, signaling her to begin.

Caroline took a deep breath. Then, with a cry, she punched hard into Cole's padded palm, giving him a jolt. He smiled at the slight tingle in his skin from the force of her blow. So maybe it could hurt, after all.

"Good," Cole complimented. "You just gotta hit repeatedly, otherwise you're giving your opponent the time to recover. We don't want that." He held out his hands again. "Go."

Caroline sighed, though she complied, using her fist to punch hard into the mattress squares (Cole had ripped up an old mattress to make a much-needed pair of punching dummies.) Proudly, Cole felt himself sliding back a little further each time, moving closer and closer to the wall. Caroline beat away at his hands, punching into them with more force than before, beating away her troubles with a swift kick with her knee. Cole made a noise of approval in the back of his throat.

"You must be light on your feet," Sensei advised, moving around them in a small arc to observe Caroline's attacks at better angles. "And use your head rather than your might."

"What?" Caroline said, sounding slightly breathless. She punched Cole's hand harder. "You want me to hit him with my HEAD?"

Cole rolled his eyes. "Use your brain," he offered, meeting Caroline's hazel gaze. She sighed into the air a breath of defeat.

"How?" she asked. "What does that mean?"

Sensei gave Cole a familiar look, an approving, sly glance Caroline didn't see. As she took a step back to brush her hair from her face, Cole used his combined speed and agility to toss aside the hand pads to grab Caroline into a backwards headlock. She gave a startled gasp. Her hands closed around his forearm, digging in her nails to his skin, a defense Cole didn't feel. He heard the soft squishing, cracking combination of a sound as his vampiric transition took place. Sensei didn't blink, but Cole felt ashamed, as though he'd somehow let the old man down. He should've at least told Sensei—in life—that he was a vampire. It would've been the right thing to do. But Cole had been scared that no one would quite understand him if they knew what a monster he'd become.

His fangs prodded his lower lip. Caroline struggled within his grasp. "You can't let your guard down," Cole advised through his fangs. "I could've killed you instantly. As would any other opponent. No one is going to wait for you, Care. You have to think as well as fight."

He released her from his grasp. She whirled to face him, though catching sight of his transformed face gave her a start. Usually that was the kind of reaction he got. It didn't really affect him anymore, but he still felt that mental wince inside of him flicker; everyone found his snow white skin—compared to the previous olive tone it had before—a culture shock. That wasn't even _mentioning_ his eyes. Cole had come to a simple conclusion that his silver irises always made people jump. It was hard not to. They weren't very subtle, if you asked him. They even glowed in the dark.

"Remember to _think_," he reminded her. Then, he lunged.

Caroline jumped aside with an extremely girly squeal. There was the soft rush of air with his heightened vampiric movements, until Caroline actually took action. Her palm caught the side of his face in a cold, raw slap that stung his skin even after it happened. Cole found his footing in a swift land multiple feet from where she stood, rubbing at his face.

And within him tumbled an extremely humiliated feeling. Not because Caroline had smacked him a good one. But because when he'd leapt for her, after she'd hit him, he'd had to _refrain _from attacking her back.

Primarily he could've argued it was instinct. After all, predators acted to defend themselves, right? Cole didn't seem to grasp securely that thought, all the same. He was still mortified with himself for actually _wanting _to attack. He'd been the one to let his guard down, let that destructive drive take over his body. Cole didn't want to think of the long term effect that could've taken place had he actually whirled to sink his teeth into her out of annoyance. He pinched his nose to regain control.

He wasn't a monster. That much Cole forced himself to believe. Despite everything, Cole _needed _to believe that. If he doubted himself for one second, he would find himself doing exactly what he'd just done now. And next time he may not have been there mentally to stop himself from destroying what there was.

The witch who'd given Cole his resurrecting potion had warned him. She hadn't liked the idea that he was a vampire, however unwillingly. Witches—or "herb peoples"—didn't bode well with the creatures of the damned, yet let them control their publics for a supernaturally hidden reason. Somehow, she'd managed to put aside all hatreds for him and actually help him, because the witch he'd turned to, Illyana, believed there was still good in him. It was never Cole's choice to be a vampire. She wanted to protect him with knowledge rather than spells. She told Cole multiple times over the course of their exchange—what she wanted for what he wanted, in this case the potion—that vampires were controlled by emotions. They were slaves to what they felt. Their feelings were what moved them through because everything vampires could feel was heightened from its original capacity. Anger became rage; affections became love; dislike became anger. There was a very fine line between _free will _and _instinct _when you were a vampire. You were dominated by a pre-established condition that settled into your brain once you were officially dead. There was no choice unless your willpower burned brighter than the rules did.

How many times had Cole struggled with this? It was hard to defeat his emotions. Usually he wasn't so emotional, but now he might as well have been a walking book for everyone to read. He omitted his feelings too easily now; he was still working the kinks out of it. It had been seven years and he was _still _trying to figure this out.

He then felt guilty. What had once been small fault was now full blown guilt. He poured over imperfections. Like, for instance, his _foolish _choice to begin turning Nya into a vampire with him.

She wasn't completely a vampire yet. He'd have to exchange blood with her a couple more times for her to fully die and change from the overtake of his immortal blood cells clashing with her human ones. Her heart would overwhelm, her brain would shut down, her body would cease to work—but within a few couple hours she'd reawaken into a newer, more improved version of herself. She'd feed solely from blood, suffer through this godforsaken channel of never-ending magnified emotions. She would never reach true humanity again. She would _lose _herself. Nya wouldn't be Nya, instead this monster that looked, sounded, moved like her, but would never _be _her. Cole had rushed into it because the thought of being alone forever had nearly killed him. Never aging, never growing, never becoming anything more than what he was. He'd be a walking history textbook, and that was it. To be honest, Cole had been _scared. _So he'd hurried into it. Now he was paying for it by finally realizing that if he let Nya complete the transition, she would never be herself again, and what life vampires lived wasn't a life he'd ever let anyone have. It wasn't worth it. And he knew that what she was feeling as he changed her was not entirely realistic, either. Her emotions were becoming heightened, as his had. And it meant plenty of things he didn't want to even _think _were possible, yet knew they were in the back of his mind, and thinking them broke his heart every time.

Cole was a friend. A friend who was there when needed. A friend who had offered his assistance to her when she needed somebody to hold her, needed somebody to tell her that everything would be fine when it seemed like it wouldn't. As their relationship grew stronger, Nya must've been feeling more and more for him, must've somehow been developing affections. He thought about his stupidity when knowing it was _wrong _to kiss your friend's girlfriend, yet his stubbornness telling him he didn't care. That wasn't true, of course. He did care. It's just, when it came to Nya, Cole had known that he was in love with her and wanted to share some kind of special moment that he could carry with him, because he would last forever, and…well, she wouldn't.

The bittersweet feeling of his first kiss engulfed him in beautiful flames. His heartbeat quickened at the taste of her lips against his. Cole had longed for that moment for _so long. _A year had gone by, too long to keep a secret for someone as impatient as himself. He found he was good at sitting still, good at waiting. It was just, when time began to wear on your shoulders the way it did to Cole, there was no way he could sit around and let it eat away at him forever.

Nya had _cared _about him, before he'd ever told her about his vampirism. She'd told him she _cared. _She told him that she _cared _if he got hurt or not. Then he had to go make a stupid mistake like giving her a huge kiss on the lips. If he hadn't done that, think of how much differently he could've been living now, the difference in life. He knew it wouldn't hurt as much to walk into the infirmary to try and sort things out with the brokenhearted ex-boyfriend, because he never would've had to experience such a painful situation. Then the kiss lead to Nya interpreting her _caring _and _measly affections _for _love, _something that you just don't want to mix up because if can end very badly. Cole had been too twitterpated to look past what lingered in front of him: Nya did not love him. Nya _cared _about him. And that was where he'd gone wrong. The kisses had led to sex, and sex had led to pregnancy, which led to the other boyfriend becoming the _ex-_boyfriend, and this whole love triangle thing that Cole found _horrendously _overdramatic.

Oh, he loved Nya, more than anything he'd ever been able to love. He loved being in the same room with her, loved the feel of her hands, of her heart beating against his, of her laughter echoing throughout her throat. He loved the feeling of her cool fingertips caressing his cheek. He loved the feeling of her mouth pressed against his jugular. He loved the feeling of his heart rushing through his chest when he was able to wrap his arms around her waist and hold her without feeling bad that he got to hold her for once, which he did not have to let go so soon. He loved knowing she was asleep beside him, and as long as she was there, she would be safely protected from anything. Cole knew deep in his heart that he would crawl on broken glass to save Nya from whatever threatened. Yeah. Crawl on broken glass and come back bleeding. That's how he knew he was in love with her.

But she wasn't in love with him.

Nya had _cared. _But when he began to turn her, her emotions amplified. Magnified. They became bigger than what they actually were; Cole could never stress how much your emotions soared after you became a vampire. Her _caring _became so enlarged she believed that it had become love. Cole had known from the beginning that it was just as he suspected. After all, it matched everything that the witch had warned him of, turning his fantasy into a nightmare. Cole had strung along the relationship in hopes that he could ignore the tragedy of what he'd done to her, but no one can look at the person they love most and ignore the pain they feel inside, knowing they've caused similar calamity to the other. Nya still loved Jay, in the end, if he could erase the vampirism he'd given her. And Cole knew just what he'd have to do.

He had to let her go.

It would be so hard. Now that he finally had her, why not take her and run? This part of him, this greedy part, wanted to snatch her up and steal her far from where they stood now. The other part of him—the part that was still somewhat compassionate—knew that if he did so, he would've just ruined completely one of the most beautiful relationships ever created. The chances now seemed small, but Cole knew if he could get Jay to listen, there would pour through the realization that the love he once had was able to reconcile. Cole would stop exchanging blood with Nya. Slowly, the vampire blood would evaporate from her system, be killed off, lost, whatever—and she would return back to human, piece by piece at a time, her emotions becoming real again, and all normality would be restored back to the people he'd so selfishly ruined.

And in the process, he'd also have to do something so completely painful it would most likely rip him to pieces having to do it. Her vampirism would fade under the haze Cole would bestow her. And soon…

That wasn't all he had to say, either. They believed this baby belonged to Cole, believed the organism growing inside of her plump belly was a result of Cole's doing. But this was wrong. He'd known it all along, yet had been too afraid to say aloud. Now it rung like a jagged note across the cracked surface of his skull.

Nya was pregnant _before _she had slept with Cole.

Call it a sixth sense, if you want. But Cole had smelled it on her skin that whole night, tasted it, felt it. His vampirism forced him to become hyperaware of these things. Nya dripped maternal senses off her body like raindrops poured from leaves after a storm. This, too, was something that Jay needed to know, needed to hear. Hopefully he would experience belief under the knowledge that Cole could feel these things as he could feel his own skin. If Cole could pray now he'd use every last ounce of his holy heart to ask God for a fund to help him right the wrongs he'd created out of sin.

It hurt to think about. It made it hard for him to breathe. But from the circumstance that Cole was recovering from a very prophetic slap in the face, his decisions were made, his choices final. It was because Cole loved Nya that he could have the strength to set her free.

Sensei Wu had always had a good intellect of knowing the unsaid. From Cole's silence he must've felt the shock of understanding Caroline's palm had given him. They met eyes across the room, and the old man gave him a slow, apologetic blink. There were words behind this action, words that Cole grabbed from the air to read. _Your devotion and loyalty leads to bravery. That bravery leads to great sacrifice. And this sacrifice creates trust in the true power of love. _

Sensei's words floated through his ears, though the old man never spoke them. He found himself slowly swimming into focus with Caroline's hands to his shoulders. She shook him with her voice leisurely moving into his eardrums to be comprehended. "Cole! I didn't mean to hit you! It was just a reaction, I didn't necessarily mean to, you know, _smack _you across the _face—_Oh, Cole, I—"

Cole's hand slid over her mouth. "Caroline," he breathed, staring hard into her wide eyes. He felt his body sagging with the heft of defeat. "Shut up."

Caroline smiled beneath his hand. She didn't say another word.

Cole made to pick up the torn mattress pieces, but Sensei's hand curled over the crook of his shoulder, pulling him back up. He met the old teacher's blue eyes with a half lidded glance, and that became all the answer Sensei needed. He squeezed his students' shoulder softly. "Go," he said tenderly. "I will finish here."

Cole blinked. He didn't know how to breathe in order to speak, so he nodded, leaving Caroline to ask questions about his departure. He was completely worried, unsure of how he'd handle this. How Sensei could've known just what he was thinking. Was Cole really such a bad projector that his mind casually extended his thoughts for everyone, or was Sensei just becoming keener? It took him a minute to realize that _duh, _Sensei was being keen, because he was gifted with the sixth sense as the confirmation of being a nindroid. Cole slowly padded down the hallway towards the infirmary. He could hear the voices of every boat member there was, but he used his pinpointing abilities to focus on what was being said in the hospice.

"_…can't we at least get Cole?" _asked Nya. "_I don't feel comfortable doing this without his consent…" _

_"Oh, you're fine!" _said the confident voice of Dani, the witch. _"Look on the bright side, you can always come to him with great news. I mean, you get to find out if it's a boy or a girl!" _

Cole felt numb approaching the doorway, pausing in front of it with his hand poised to knock. Jay's breathing was quiet, soft, a tone that could've been mistaken as actual sleeping, except Cole knew better that his friend would most likely be listening in pretend sleep. He didn't know if he wanted to ruin this beautiful moment for Nya. But then he grasped that this was not to ruin Nya's life. This was to rewrite all the wrongs he'd done.

He pushed through the door with a heavy heart. Nya's head turned to the side to catch sight of him, and with it came the light dawning on her face, a light that he'd never be able to see again once he was finished with her. Cole felt tears curl in his eyes at the thought, but it wasn't manly to cry, and it sure as hell wasn't his right to, after what he'd done. She gave him a happy smile, sprawled across the cot next to Jay's, whose head turned opposite him. The stack of pillows behind her back provided the proper uplifting she needed to sit at an angle with her belly resting under the gentle curve of her stomach. The sterile white sheets beneath her barely crinkled underneath her weight, they bode so stiffly. Dani stood at her bedside with her hands poised to her wide hips.

"I _told _you to stay out!" she gasped.

Cole barely glanced at her. "This is important," he said numbly, without vocal expression. "I need to talk to Nya."

At this, Nya's smile faded into an indistinct frown of concern. The excitement from her face vanished. "Cole?" she asked quietly. She watched his expression tentatively. "What's wrong?"

Dani sidestepped for him, taking into consideration this time that he had business to do. Her long blonde ponytail swished behind her when she moved. _A golden ribbon_, he thought, and gave her an actual smile. The witch's brows rose in surprise. "Give us a minute," he commanded, and Dani left with an odd backwards glance. The door shut quietly behind her.

With every fiber of his being aching, Cole sat on the bed next to Nya's feet, looking deep into her eyes at the disquiet she wore. He looked at her beautiful black lashes, her pretty pink lips. He took her hand into his with a tight, short squeeze. "Cole?" she repeated uneasily. "What's the matter, honey?" she leaned forward to better hold onto him. Cole traced the mountain range of her knuckles for a spare few seconds, relishing these moments. They continued short lived.

Cole took in a deep, painful breath. "I haven't been very fair to you," he began. It choked up his words to have to say them. He had to force them out his throat. "Actually, I've been an asshole. Doing what I've done…It's not right, Nya." He raised his eyes from her pretty hands to her even more beautiful face. Her fingers curled around his. She looked clueless—and that was fine. She'd understand after a few more sentences.

"What isn't?" she asked. She reached out her palm to cup his cheek. "Cole, what's wrong, sweetie?"

Cole held back his tears. He wasn't going to cry. "I've ruined your life—_and _Jay's. I came in and thought I could just do it and have you so easily. But that's not even close to being the case. Truth is…I don't deserve a happy ending." He looked at the floor. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jay stir in interest. Nya opened her mouth to reject every word he was saying, but he continued over her. "I unrightfully took you from him. I had no right."

"You didn't 'take me,' Cole," Nya clutched his hand tightly, forcing him to look her in the eye. Her gaze was hard. "I'm not a toy children fight over."

Cole gave a humorless smirk. "No," he whispered. Then his octaves rose. "I did take you. When I began to turn you…Your emotions…they aren't what you think they are," he said. "Everything you think you feel is fake. It's not real, Nya. They amplified into something way bigger than they actually are. You _care _about me, Nya," Cole squeezed her hand to get her attention. She was quickly shaking her head to avoid having to listen, but he forged on, clasping his hands over hers. "But you don't _love _me. You just think you do. And I can't sit here anymore and let myself feel guilty about the fact that I _know _I've taken you from Jay unrightfully. If I could drain all the vampire blood from your system right now, you'd return back to normal. You wouldn't feel as you think you do _right now. _But that would take weeks. Months. Hell, maybe even a year. And I don't want to feel that pain for so long."

Truthfully, doing any of this would only worsen the ache, but Cole needed her to go knowing that he would be happier knowing that _she _was happier. That's all he needed from her was the reassurance that there was every better choice for her in her life. And Cole was far from being the right one. She wasn't stopping the furrow of her brows or the look of consternation on her face. She wasn't fighting the grimace of arguing tears from her expression. Nya shook her head again. _"No _Cole, don't do this—"

"This baby isn't mine," he announced. That was when Jay joined the audience. Cole didn't turn to see his reaction, instead focusing on Nya's face. Bewildered, she continued to move her head in negation, but it was slowing. And that was painfully, heartwrenchingly, sickeningly _good_. "You know it as much as I do, you just don't want to admit it." His voice became more urgent. "You've known from the beginning you were pregnant before I slept with you. You know that it's Jay's baby. You _know." _

Jay pushed himself slowly into a minor sitting position. His aura dispensed misperception, yet a slight hint of hope hit Cole hard in the face. He tried not to wince. Nya didn't shake her head anymore, but hung it shamefully, because she, too, knew like he did.

"Of course I _know," _she snapped, angry. "Why wouldn't I? It's growing in _me." _

Cole nodded. "Then you see how pointless it is for me to continue here, right?"

Nya grabbed him roughly. "Cole Mitsuhide," she growled, "you are _not _going to just _leave _me—"

But Cole pushed her back gently. Every passing second was killing him. "I'm not leaving you," he whispered. To her wet face, Cole reached forward with his hands, cupping her cheeks so softly he relished it. This was the very last time he'd hold her like this. This was the last time he'd be given the chance to hold Nya—and he cherished it in every stroke of his fingertips. "I'm not leaving you," he repeated quietly. Her face softened at the sentence, but he wasn't done to leave her with a warm heart. "I'm just letting you go."

Her desperation replaced the relief she'd previously felt. "_No, _Cole, I won't let you," she hissed furiously. "You're not going to push me away like you do everyone else. You can't—we can't—I love you," she admitted. It hurt so bad. Cole shook his head.

"No, Nya," he whispered. "You don't."

He stared long, hard, and deep into her eyes, focusing through the threatening downpour of his own tears at the sight of hers. Cole felt like someone was punching him in the chest, leaving him with an empty hole to be filled by nothing but air. It hurt him so much to have to do this. He was being stabbed repeatedly by stakes dipped in white ash, but he knew this had to be done. Pushing on was all there was left for him to do. He stroked her cheekbones with his thumbs. His shaky breath could barely pull him through the words he didn't want to say.

Nya's eyes were glassy under his captivating, steely gaze. He ignored all outside noises and focused his energy on her. Her face, her thought, her sound. And every word he spoke…

…He believed them. _That _is how it works.

"You are going to forget I ever loved you," he said to Nya, fighting sorrow. He watched her become impassive under his power. "You're going to forget that I ever kissed you. You're going to forget everything that has ever happened between you and me—and you're going to forget that I'm a vampire. You'll move on with Jay. You'll become—" Cole swallowed, trying so hard to keep his cracking voice in check, "—the most _amazing _mother there ever was. All your sorrows will be doused by Jay. You never left him, and he never left you. The vampire blood will drain from your system, and you will just…you'll forget." Nya's eyes glassed over with emotionless cataracts. Her eyelids fell to a gentle close as Cole's vampiric compulsion worked its magic on her mind. When Nya woke, she would never remember any of the things he told her to forget; her mind would erase of everything there had ever been of his love. Cole felt it all in his stomach. It could've killed him as he set her back against the pillows, watching her cluelessly fall into a deep sleep without ever being able to remember him. He dropped a final, gentle parting kiss to her forehead. _I love you, _he thought quietly.

His audience of one burst into emotion. "What the hell are you doing?!" Jay exploded. "What the hell did you just do?!"

Cole turned his gaze on Jay. "Fixing it," he murmured. He was too weak to say much more. Compelling people with his mind control used more energy than any other skill he supernaturally gained.

"Why?!" Jay looked incredulous. Horrified, he glanced between Cole and Nya, unsure of what else to say. Cole gave a bitter, short laugh.

"I'm a monster," he said humorlessly. "I don't deserve a happy ending. But you do." He didn't wait for Jay to throw out any other comments of revelation. He focused the remains of his power onto Jay, bearing his eyes deep into the blue ninja's gaze, drilling holes into him to excavate out the memories he wanted to steal. He tried his hardest to concentrate. "You are going to forget about everything that has happened between me and Nya. You're going to move on with your life—and the love that you still feel for Nya will be bigger and better than _ever _before. You're going to treat her like you've got the whole world in your hands, with love and respect and this baby? You're going to love it like you've never loved before. You're going to be everything Nya ever needs. You're going to come when she calls, going to visit her at work when she asks you if you want to have a lunch date. You're going to be proud of her when she makes an accomplishment. You are going to protect her with every piece of you, no matter what it takes, just to make sure she's safe. You're never going to let _anything _happen to her. And damnit, Jay"—he said to the blank expression of his compelled friend—"you are going to _love _her. This is a woman of true, pure, real emotion, and she needs to be treated with care. Be gentle. Be loving. Be...be everything that I _can't._"

Jay fell to his sleep carefully, but his mind remained at ease as his power took shape. Cole heaved under the stress of power loss. It was almost too hard to bear, but he was tougher than the average vampire. He still had enough strength in him to lift Nya from her small cot to place her in the crook of Jay's arm, nestled close beside him. In a movement of sleep, she wrapped her arm around Jay's waist, bringing her body closer to his; Cole felt his heart break. He felt accomplished knowing he'd succeeded in what he'd set out to do. He had brought together a reality much deserved, and for that he knew he was the luckiest man in the world, because he'd brought together two human beings who couldn't ever love each other more. He left them there with his heart in their hands, yet Cole felt happy, because he knew that Nya and Jay were happy. And as long as they had that, he would be eternally grateful.

When they fell asleep, they only knew that Nya had curled beside the man she loved and held his hand to nurse him back to good health. And when they woke, through their haze of drowsiness, they'd be given the opportunity to barely even remember that Cole had ever existed.

And that, he decided, made him..._happy._


	5. Chapter 4: Rebirth

**I tried to make this really funny and amusing to drown out the seriousness. :P I even laughed myself writing it, so I hope you guys enjoy my touch of complete humor that I spewed. :D It is REALLY long—sorry for that!—but it is pretty awesome. I hope you guys enjoy, and go have an AWESOME day/night! And I will see you guys back here next chapter for a little check in on Lloyd and Seiko!**

**WARNING: Swearing!**

_4. Rebirth_

KAI APPROACHED the Temple with a weary feeling in the pit of his nonexistent stomach. Butterflies danced inside of him in tight knots. The Elemental Leaders were most certainly unhappy with him and Zane, that much was obvious, judging by their angry call for them to leave behind the _Bounty 2 _to attend their council immediately. Kai had unwillingly abandoned the gang of the ninja's family and friends staring at the large screen of the mechanical room. Caroline had been repeatedly flying through the search engine that located people—pretty ninja gadget, right?—after every empty palm of results came about. Lloyd and Seiko were nowhere to be found—not in Ninjago, anyway, vital information he wanted to give his friends, but knew ticking off the Leaders any more than he already had probably wouldn't end well. Kai hated that the Leaders were so strict about everything—if they would just _tell _everyone what was going to happen to them, then the ninja would be better prepared, and would most likely win every upcoming war that led to the Great Battle. As was probably obvious, Kai and the Elemental Leaders didn't get along well.

Most likely, their deceased ninja-to-crabby-Leaders conference would center on how irrationally Zane and Kai had acted by revealing a whole bunch of info to the others before the others had abandoned them at _Maolo _town. This Kai had been butting heads with them about ever since it happened. This was just another lecture he'd have to sit through—probably to be backed by plenty more in the future. He eyeballed the Temple of the Fallen with a cautious eye. This Temple was burrowed deep beyond the Elemental Sections of the Realm—it was pretty hard to find for a newcomer, but Kai had been visiting it so often lately he could find it with his eyes covered. He clenched his fists.

Zane paused at the set of staircases leading towards the grand place of peace. There were sixty-three stairs to cover. At the top was nothing but a pair of marble pillars that held up the triangular roof, and that wide doorway that revealed the Seven Sacred Seats for the Elemental Leaders. Kai sighed heavily. Behind him, Sensei Wu tapped him on the back of his head with that stupid staff of his. Kai's head snapped forward. "_Ow!" _he gasped, turning to glare at the old, wise man beneath his visor. Sensei tilted back his chin.

"Get walking," he commanded. "You have a place to be. They did not call you from your duty if it wasn't important."

Kai sighed heavily. "We already know what they're going to yell at us for," he grumbled, but began walking up the staircase, taking two at a time to save seconds. Zane followed behind him with a much less impatient pace. But Kai wasn't about to take any more of this crap. He needed to be present for the spiral of events on the _Bounty 2—_he'd been in the middle of abandoning Cole in the bedroom, whom, by the way, was trying to settle his emotions with Zane sitting there watching, though Cole couldn't see him. The Garmadons, the Walkers, Caroline, Lou, Ming, Ripsaw, and Darreth had just been sticking in Zane's memory chip into the computer when Zane appeared, announcing that the Elemental Leaders needed to speak with them urgently. Now, Kai was just irritated.

"This is stupid," he said loudly at the top of the steps, hoping the Leaders could hear him. Zane, still climbing the stairs, glanced upwards at him. Kai waited patiently for his friend's arrival. "Don't you think?"

Zane reached his side. He gave Kai a disproving glance. "No comment."

The space in the Temple of the Fallen was vast, wide, and empty. There was nothing along the golden walls to decorate it. It was basically just a big square room—and Kai was talking _big—_with seven chairs in the middle, all facing that fat doorway expectantly. Kai stood in the entrance as he stared at each figure sitting in all the chairs. They made their costumes a little dramatic for his taste, but that was Kai, and apparently what _he _wanted, no one else gave a flying deer about. Zane pushed his shoulders from behind to start his movement. "_Go," _he hissed.

Kai grumbled as he approached the tall thrones of each Leader. Equal to their costumes, each of these chairs was made of gold (imagine that) and stood probably a whole five feet above their head when they sat in them. He didn't see what the point of having a huge chair was. He already knew they were powerful, but, seriously. Was it to intimidate people who approached them? Kai thought simply for a moment before deciding, no, because he wasn't the least bit scared of these bullies.

"Hello," said a booming, loud voice. It came from the ringleader, sitting in the center of the seven thrones, his robes long and golden (ha, ha), pooling at the bottom of his chair like liquid. Zane immediately dropped into a respectful bow, but Kai hesitated. Did he owe these bastards anything?

"_Get down," _Zane hissed. Kai rolled his eyes but complied.

After a painful moment in that crooked position, the Leader who "greeted" them made a sound of acknowledgement. "Rise, young ninja," he said. Kai straightened. The Leader wearing white blinked at him, his long black hair twisted behind his head in a long—and he meant _long—_braid that rested on his shoulder when brought to the front. The hair pattern extended all the way to his feet. It was kind of gross, but Kai never said anything. What was the point in wasting his breath on some weirdo's fashion statement? The face staring at him was pretty much the face of a forty-year-old dude: Wrinkly, but not _overly _wrinkly. Kai raised his eyebrow as the Leader tilted his chin upwards to apprehend the fire ninja through slit lids.

"I suspect you think you know why you are here," the Leader said. "Is this true?"

Kai opened his mouth to retort, but Zane smacked him hard in the stomach. "Whatever the reason I am one-hundred percent sure that we will listen with observant ears and keen senses," he said politely. Kai rubbed the ache where Zane had punched him.

The Leader laced his fingers together in a steeple. These, too, were wrinkled, cracked, and under-moisturized. He rested his elbows on the arms of his throne. The past couple of times he'd visited, something seemed off about this guy. Kai just made an inference that he was crazy or something. This Leader was the one that Kai despised the most, who he probably _shouldn't _hate as he did but couldn't resist it. The first Spinjitzu Master stared at Kai with mutual dislike.

"I would suppose so," he said lowly. Kai's fists clenched. "As you already know, your previous actions caused great effect to the future of Ninjago." Kai bit his tongue. The Spinjitzu Master continued. "We have battled many an argument over this. It is to my understanding that you two irrationally revealed information to the current ninja subjects that you had no right to reveal. You broke many regulations set for the purpose of becoming the Past and the Present; though you are allowed, by some standards, to help move things along, you are _not _under any circumstances allowed to expose yourself _or _speak of future things to those you follow—both rules of which you have broken." He regarded the two with narrow eyes. Kai had come to think that's the only way he ever saw people.

"Look, we've told _you, _we had to do it," snarled Kai. He stepped forward. "I know you guys are all about your tidy rules and crap, but you've got to understand that if we didn't, the ninja could suffer some serious defeats in the future. Now that they know a little, they can maneuver their schedules _around _the bad stuff that will happen. Technically, we broke no rules, because we were _moving things along." _

The golden Leader blinked at him. "You did break many rules. But we did not call you here to nurse old wounds. We have called you here to discuss the fresh ones."

Kai gave an angry growl. He hated this—but maybe there was something in this discussion for him. Kai flexed his fingers beneath the gloves provided with his new ninja suit. He focused on harnessing the angry fires within him like Sensei had taught all those years ago, dousing them with thoughts of Lloyd and what dangers he was probably facing right about now. If the Leaders wanted the Present to "move things along," he would do what he could for Lloyd. He couldn't imagine how much he would hate himself if he let something terrible happen to the little guy.

Kai felt a little calmer by the time the next Leader began to speak. The annoying golden one actually _shut up _for once. He averted his gaze to the pretty girl beside him. She looked to be maybe twenty-five at the most—kind of a bad time to die. Her short brown hair reached her chin in a fluff of huge curls, but she could actually pull that look off. Her robes were a deep blue, with sparkly ribbons attached to them, making her look like a giant ornament. The woman's eyes bore into him. "The Ultimate Spinjitzu Master is missing," she announced in a loud voice. "He is caught in hell under some extremely awful circumstances. The new ruler of the Underworld—under Elathan's death—is not going to yield for Lloyd for very long. Currently, he is captured in a cell with the girl, Seiko. Perhaps if he tells someone that he's Lord Garmadon's son, things will change. But for now, he is dehydrated, and weak, and every crumb he gets he gives to his roommate, for she is frail. Her inner powers are being sapped by the new ruler to feed him—"

"Wait," Zane reached out his hand to pause her lecture. "Pardon the interruption, Elemental Leader Zara, but you said a number of things I question. Who is this new ruler? Why is he feeding from Seiko?"

Elemental Leader Zara—a name that somehow seemed to fit her better than her baggy robes—gave Zane a soft smile. Kai found that she was more of a peacemaker than a fighter, which was very much unlike the first Spinjitzu Master, whose name he didn't know, nor cared to remember. "The new ruler is the second son of Elathan," she softly said. Kai's head snapped towards her. Before he could question, she answered. "After Kai was left in the woods on Earth, Elathan and his wife despaired over their lost son for a year. Then, your mother, Christine, became pregnant with a second child, whom after birth she named Noel. Shortly after, Elathan declared that if anything should happen to him, his second son would take the throne and become the rightful ruler of the Underworld. Elathan had no idea you survived," Zara said to Kai. Kai scoffed.

"That's an example of _awesome _parenting, Zane," Kai patted his friend's shoulder. Zane frowned.

Zara continued over Kai. "Noel became a true demon as he grew older, gaining more of his father's evil as he went. Elathan trained Noel in more than just your average fishing trips. He taught how to dictate an entire Realm—how to make empires, how to destroy cities, and how to kill. Noel became the ultimate prince. When Elathan disappeared to pretend to be Kai in the real world, Noel began to use those abilities. He dominated the entire Underworld by the time of Elathan's defeat. Your brother does not go gentle," Zara said, "and has become a demon, as I have said before. He feeds from Seiko for various reasons. One of them is that human energy is extremely powerful to Underworlders, since mortals are scarce beneath the earth's crust. But the more important reason is that Seiko has a power within her that is beyond any power you have ever experienced. To taste her vigor is like going a week without food or water and being given a feast."

Kai groaned furiously. "Oh. Okay. 'Cause that's not vague. Why's she so important? What's with all her 'power'?"

Zara dusted off her robe like it was dirty, which Kai was four hundred percent sure that it wasn't. Her burgundy gaze returned to his with a deep observation. "Perhaps if you had Cole reveal to you more of his brutal past, you would understand."

Kai rolled his eyes. "Can't you just tell us, O wise one?"

Zane punched Kai's gut again. The fire ninja doubled over with a grunt. "Excuse him," Zane apologized, "he is just being impatient and moody. May I say that I would think it be wise that you reveal to us now what of Seiko is so powerful? I am afraid that I do not think Cole will be telling us anything anytime soon."

Zara gave him a willful smile. Kai caught it as he rose. She repositioned her robes over her legs so she could cross them. "Very well," she murmured. "I cannot expose to you all of my information—"

"Let me guess, the rules?" Kai interjected. He was prepared for another blow to the stomach, but Zane kicked him in the back of the knees, sending him to the floor. Kai laid there out of harsh frustration. He was practically eating dirt with his face pressed to the marble like that. _I'm so freaking ticked off it's not even funny, _he thought irritably. _This is stupid. _

Over his head, Zara continued. "—but what I can give you perhaps will prove insight. You see, Seiko has a strong inner force. It collaborates well with a big heart. However, mentally, she is weak, and isn't very stable, which gives Noel a better edge. She is extremely insecure." Zara said it like it was a really bad thing. "If Noel manages to take all of her force from her, she will end up dying. And no one is going to stop feeding from her until then. She is at great risk—and the Green Ninja doesn't even know it."

Kai pushed himself to his knees, but thought standing would be stupid, because Zane would probably knock him down again anyway. Except now, instead of punching him in the stomach, Zane could kick him in the head—which, Kai knew him well enough to know that Zane would do without hesitation if he had to. Kai had the smarts to scoot farther away from him to prevent some kind of fatalistic trauma to his brain. "So…Noel is…_eating _Seiko? That's kind of actually really gross. Surely you must be joking, because no one I'm related to is a cannibal." Kai asked apprehensively. He lifted his arm to deflect Zane's foot.

But Zara shook her head. "No, I am completely serious, and do not call me Shirley." She stared at him earnestly. Kai fought a laugh. "He is not _eating _her," she said, "he's taking her life force. Human life force is extremely powerful to demons. It makes them stronger. That is why, if Eloquim the Deadly manages to open the Gate, all humans will be at risk. They will be sapped of their inner power."

_Eloquim the Deadly. _It fit him perfectly. Stunned, Kai could barely stutter out, "So they'll be like walking juice boxes?" When Zara nodded, he bowed his head. "Oh, great."

"Is he drinking from Lloyd too?" Zane asked.

Zara shook her head. "No," she concluded. "He cannot."

"Why?" Kai crossed his legs, leaning backwards. He pressed his hands on the tile behind him.

"The Eye," she said simply, and Kai nodded in understanding. That creepy birthmark thing gave Lloyd _everything, _which now included a cloak that repelled the giant, proverbial straws that demons would be sticking into him. He rubbed his face with one hand.

Zara seemed to be done speaking, so the Elemental Leader beside her took his chance. This one was dressed in white, a male with hair the color of raspberries. It didn't look very natural to Kai, but then again, none of these people did. The leader rubbed his hands together. This one was thirty-ish. Kai wouldn't give him the satisfaction of being underneath that; he looked as though he'd experienced way too many things in his lifetime. Bushy brows like dead caterpillars hung half an inch over his green eyes.

"The number of good guys is dwindling," he said. His voice wasn't as deep as Kai had previously expected. "There are not many left with your fellow ninja friends to fight with."

"What are you talking about?" Kai raised his hands in a floppy motion. "There are plenty. I mean, there's the Clockwork Army. And the Garmadons."

"And my father," Zane added enthusiastically.

"And Darreth and Sensei Wu."

"Wu is a Garmadon," Zane whispered competitively. Kai double took him in revelation, but Zane's gaze was elsewhere on the Leader. "And Ed and Edna, plus Lou, and Caroline." Zane blinked. His face remained unemotional. "And my brother."

"I already said Clockwork Army," Kai whispered in revenge. "Your brother and girlfriend don't count."

Zane glared at him, his gaze saying, _Are you kidding me right now? _Kai shrugged.

The Elemental Leader sighed extensively. "You may think you have them all on your side," he said, "but what evidence does this prove?"

"Are you telling us otherwise?" Kai challenged. Zane hissed his name, but Kai bolted to his feet, staring down the white Leader with a vicious eye. How dare he question his friends' loyalty!

But the Elemental Leader didn't waver. "Yes," he said matter-of-factly. "We've told you before: Be careful who to trust. The Autumn of Twilight is still coming, and when it does, my friends, it isn't going to be pleasant. You will not like the outcome."

Kai shook his head. Okay, there was that term again, the one he didn't like. No one would tell him what exactly the "Autumn of Twilight" was. He'd searched for definition in the name, but that was about as useful as a toothpick when you needed a knife. There wasn't any sliver of knowledge Kai knew that could lead to something that ended in a season and a time of day. He sighed crossly.

"_Lucien," _hissed a woman from the other end of the scale, on the opposite side of the first Spinjitzu Master, to Kai's right. Okay, take that back. She looked like a twelve year old. She had red hair, pulled away from her face sharply into a fat knot on the top of her head, with excessive kohl rimmed around her blue eyes. Her robes were black as night. They practically swallowed her whole, she was so short. Kai had to really focus to see her in that huge chair. _"Lucien, _do not tease them," she said. Her voice was _really_ tiny. Kai snorted. "They have a right to know how many people are actually on their side."

"Yeah!" chimed Kai. He turned to Lucien, the white Leader. "Listen to…" He looked at the girl.

"Madison."

"…Madison! Listen to Madison!"

Lucien sighed heavily. His fingers steepled in front of his mouth. In consternation, he stared at the floor before him, watching the marble like it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. Kai cocked his head. It took a long while of inner debate before Lucien was finally able to spit out the words that filled Kai to the brim with dread. He felt his fists clench again—and this time until he could no longer feel his fingers.

"Seven," Lucien whispered. "Including you two."

_"S-seven?!" _Zane gasped. "But that is impossible!"

Lucien shook his head. Kai felt himself grow dizzy. Only _seven? _If he thought about it, that meant that it was Cole, Jay, Zane, Kai, and Lloyd…Did Nya fill up the sixth spot? His head twirled. Who filled the seventh?

Everyone else was _against _them? Julien? Lou? Rikku? _Caroline? _

Sensei?

Zane shook his head in disbelief. He didn't declare it, but Kai was good enough with adjectives to know that that was exactly what was going on up inside his noggin. He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. That was great. Since Zane and Kai were dead, that meant there were only five to defend the evil that would soon consume them. This time, it seemed completely impossible, with these odds. Before this, Kai would've believed there wasn't strength in numbers but in the fighters themselves. But now, having witnessed his friends cracking beneath strain, seeing Cole barely able to stand on his own two feet with heartbreak—and this was _Cole _he was talking about, who never feared, never wavered, was as hard as a freaking _rock—_he knew that there wouldn't be a chance in hell that good would win. He felt defeated already. His fists clenched as he stared at a focal point on the floor in front of him, trying to hide his anger. How could everyone betray them? How could everyone believe siding with evil was a good idea? What the hell?

"How can this be?" Zane asked, but Kai knew the answer before the first Spinjitzu Master gave it.

"We cannot tell you."

Kai was through with secrets. _Through with them._ He grabbed his shoulder protectors shaped like fire and, with a swift, angry movement, tore it from his shirt, throwing it onto the floor. It ricocheted off the marble hastily with a loud clatter. It completely disrupted the weird silence. Kai raised his eyes to the Spinjitzu Master's, feeling like he didn't care anymore. "_Fuck. You."_

Zane gasped. "_Kai!" _

"No, I'm serious," Kai said. He stepped forward, walking with confidence in his stride toward the Leader's. The Master apprehended him through those slit eyes. Kai stopped in front of him, giving him a hard, cold stare. "What the hell do we _have? _Nothing! We've lost _everything! _We have no one, nobody, nothing on our side. We had to deal with Sensei dying, and then Zane, and me, and now Lloyd is gone so there's no Green Ninja to save Ninjago 'cause you know as well as I do that regardless of the fact that he _got into hell, _he's _not _getting out. Without Lloyd, there isn't a chance that they can stop Eloquim from releasing every demon onto Earth. So much _crap _has happened to us because of this, and I hate it. I _hate it. _We were supposed to be _free _of this crap. It's completely hopeless. Why don't we just find the Key ourselves and hand it over to Eloquim personally? Huh? What's the _fucking point?!" _He screamed it into the ceiling. Zane stepped up behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder, but Kai set a torch to his hands. He balled his fists beneath the shield of his flames. Staring hard at the golden Leader, he challenged him. "And you've done _nothing. _You have the power to do something, but you're going to stand by and let this _happen! _What's the matter with you?!"

Zara reached her hand towards him to catch his attention, but Kai was busy staring at the gold guy in front of him. Unwavering, the man split his hands from their clasp, holding them up in a _Whatcha gonna do? _gesture. "I see no point in siding with the losing team," he said honestly. And that was when Kai understood.

The Leaders weren't on their side either.

He stepped back in shock. Zane looked equally as startled. "You can try all you want to win," said the man. "But there is no hope. If we side with Eloquim now, we will have peace in the future even after humans are to be killed when the Gate opens. He's given us his word."

"_What?!" _Kai stepped farther back. The fire of his hands ignited hotter.

The man looked to them. "You are hereby _banished _from the Elemental Realm," said he, "and where you go is entirely up for sport, because Eloquim has requested your return."

"Wh-what?" Zane shook his head. They were both backing up now, trying to make for the exit slowly without arousing anyone. Every eye in the room focused on them. Kai could feel it worsen as his body began to turn into a torch. The red robed man beside Madison watched him dully. He hadn't said a word throughout this whole thing—neither had the green robed boy or the yellow robed girl on opposite ends of the spectrum of colors. Zane's breathing came hard.

The gold man stood, pointing a finger at him. And with a quick, sharp cry, Zane collapsed, clutching his chest as though he were experiencing a heart attack. Kai's fire doused quickly. He dropped to the floor beside his friend, holding onto him, trying to support him while he wheezed. Zane's eyes bulged. "Can't—feel—body," he gasped. Zane _never _used sentence fragments. Kai held him tighter. He glared at the golden man with all the hatred in the world, wishing he could just run over there now and slit his throat.

"You bastard," he snarled, "stop it! Stop hurting him!"

The man's finger dropped. "I will _not _have you talk to me that way," he snapped. "You must _respect _me."

Zane gave a sharp cry from in Kai's arms. Kai looked down, afraid for his friend; Zane couldn't hold his own weight. "Strange…" he whispered. "I'm…departing…" His hands clenched, but their grip loosened as Zane gave a final breath of life, exhaling outwards once more. His muscles relaxed beneath Kai's grip, and the previous ninja of ice went limp.

"No!" Kai gasped. Zane's body slowly started to turn into dust. "_No! Zane! Zane!" _soon Kai held nothing but white ash in his hand. His body trembled with withdrawal already. All he could feel was rage. He stood, shaking with his ire, knowing that there would be nothing stopping him from killing that _awful _man now. He whirled on him while the fire of his body ignited again. "You are _so dead. _I am going to _kill you. Rip your face off. I'm going to…" _Kai never finished. He hurled a fireball at the Spinjitzu Master. The man dodged, moving surprisingly quickly in his heavy robes. He seemed unfazed by Kai's childish anger.

"This is no way to treat your elders, Kai!" he snapped. "You are meant to _respect—"_

"How can I respect what kills?!" He howled. He hurled another.

The man moved aside. "I demand you stop this instant!"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a little kid," he growled. Kai raced forward. "Because I'm _not." _He landed a thick kick to the Leader's chest. He flew backwards, colliding with his throne. He collapsed on top of it. Surprised, the Leader watched him through wide eyes. There was a foot shaped scorch mark on his chest.

Kai stepped forward, but the Leader sat taller. "You are to me," he said, panting, "for that is the only way I remember you." Kai froze.

And the leader began to _morph. _

His long braid became shorter, literally shrinking before Kai's eyes. He looked in consternation at the man's skin as it darkened to a pale olive shade, his hair actually turning a _different _color. It stained a dark brown as it was no longer a braid, but hair as long as Julien's, except it fell unkempt over his forehead. His thin face morphed into a square jaw, his nose becoming more bulbous at the end, and his skin stretched out over his face, removing the wrinkles so he became young again. His eyes turned a brilliant shade of green. Kai backed up again.

"Hello, Kai," whispered the man. "My name is Elathan. And I am your father."

_"No," _Kai shook his head, staring in disbelief. His father had been killed by Eloquim the Deadly. He was startled that none of the other Leaders were reacting to this—until he realized that they _knew. _He looked at Zara, who hung her head. He looked at Lucien, but he didn't see reaction. Kai wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to do this—didn't want to see this, experience it. He shook his head again. "_No…"_

"Join me," Elathan held out his hand, a thin smile on his face. "Be my son."

But Kai—he couldn't look this monster in the eye and be okay with it. This was his father, the man he secretly had wanted to glimpse—but he realized that he couldn't just examine him without getting an awful feeling in his stomach. Everything bad that had happened to Kai had been from his _father. _His murder, Zane's murder, the _Bounty's _crash. He'd anticipated it all behind Eloquim. He was the man behind the curtain, the puppeteer above the stage holding the strings. Kai felt sick with the idea of this monster's blood running through his veins. He wet his lips. He couldn't even swallow.

Kai's voice was a croak. "I'd rather _die _than join you," he spat.

Elathan's face darkened, and his smile faded. "Then so be it," announced the angry father. And with that, he held out his deadly finger and pointed it straight at Kai's heart.

It was like someone had shoved rocks down his throat. He couldn't breathe, his heart was slowing. He collapsed in a heap on the floor as he tried to get breath, but the room was void of any oxygen for him to take; Kai's mind fogged. He looked up at his father confusedly. So Elathan wasn't against murder of the children, then. The sharp form of his frowning father slowly faded into an undefinable blur. Kai felt his strength disappear.

He collapsed to the floor, and died into ash.

**DARRETH**

Picture after picture after _picture _after _video. _Gosh. Could things get any worse? He didn't know if he liked spending his Sundays like this. Was it really worth it? The redheaded girl was constantly flipping through the pictures of the ninja Darreth had come to know and love, but he couldn't help but get just a tad annoyed. There wasn't much else to do on this ship anyway, except play checkers with the little blonde kid with fat cheeks sitting across from him. Before he'd challenged Darreth to an all-out duel, he had told him that his name was Sylvester, or "Sylver," depending on who you were. Then, Darreth had called him Sylver, and had almost gotten punched in the face. To be honest he was actually a little scared of the twerp. _But _he thought he'd be a great pupil, so he'd generously offered to teach him some of his ninja moves later. Sylvester had questioned his abilities, but with a laugh, Darreth had told him, Ha! Of course Darreth knew how to do extremely difficult martial art moves—like, for instance, _the penguin! _Mentally he imagined himself waddling in the _extremely _difficult move, and gave a confident laugh as he picked up his red checker. A move away, and he'd be kinged!

"I _Darreth _you to just hand over the trophy," he said to Sylvester. Sylvester pushed his glasses up his nose. He innocently blinked at him.

"I don't have a trophy."

"I have _plenty," _Darreth examined his nails. "They all come from great skill and the _awe_some ability to perform moves like—_the tiger!" _he leapt from his chair to crouch, clawing his hands and praying them at Sylvester menacingly. He growled. Sylvester's eyebrow shot up. He looked amused—but Darreth knew inside, he was actually really scared, because, well, he was a master of these moves, and he'd seen how scary he can really be. When he did it to himself in the mirror once, he'd almost peed his pants.

He straightened, cracking his knuckles. He did a loud, quick laugh. Puffing out his chest, Darreth looked to Sylvester through half lidded eyes. "I ama legitimate _chief _of the tiger," he boasted. "I've won multiple awards with it. Some say I am the greatest Sensei in the world." He yawned falsely. "I do my best to teach everyone defense, of course."

Sylvester blinked slowly, trying to process this. That was fine with Darreth, he usually awed people with that info anyway. He put his hands to his hips with a quick shut of his eyes. Let him hear the _sweet _sound of compliments and awe from the kid-"Is this supposed to be amusing?" asked Sylvester. "Because…I am not tickled."

Darreth opened his eyes. "I'm completely serious!" He told the kid. Then he laughed. He'd probably just awed him beyond comprehension.

"So am I," Sylvester said. Darreth frowned at him.

"Are…are _you _trying to make me laugh?" He asked tentatively. He didn't get it. Why wasn't this child stunned by his amazing abilities?

"No."

Darreth was now extremely confused. "Are you astonished?"

"By what?"

Darreth stared at him in bewilderment. "Because—I—I just did the Tiger for you," he spluttered. This was the first time anyone had ever _not _reacted to it. He didn't know what to feel.

"Is that what that was?"

"Ah—_yes!"_

"That didn't look like a tiger to me," said Sylvester. He shoved his glasses up his nose. Darreth's shoulders sagged.

"How did that _not _look like a tiger?" he cried. "It did _too." _

"I thought you had something lodged in your throat. You made this weird choking sound."

Darreth's heart sank. "That was supposed to be a growl," he said defeatedly. Sylvester shook his head. To Darreth's defense, these people were weird anyway; maybe they just didn't truly understand the power of his ninja moves. He brightened at the idea that not all hope was lost. There were about twelve other people on this boat to awe with his amazingness. He straightened his back.

"You're just confused," he held out his palm to stop the silly boy from protesting. "I understand. Some people are blinded when they see the Tiger. It's actually happened before."

Sylvester grimaced. "They probably fainted because too many hormones and endorphins were being released into their brains at once, causing them to fail under stress when they saw you choking. It's more often than not that others collapse under almost vehicular weights due to the body's hefting, as a result of anxiety when they don't know how to properly react to a situation."

Darreth blinked. "I have no idea what you just said."

"Me neither," said a voice from behind him. "_Triple Tiger Sashay!" _

Darreth felt _feet _on his head. He bobbed under the heavy weight of whatever weirdo was jumping on his skull. He gave a cry, hands flying to caress his sore skin beneath his well-done hair. He spun around in circles. It didn't exactly _hurt, _but it definitely had left him stunned, unsure of what had actually just happened. When he looked up, he saw the black ninja standing in front of him, a smug grin on his face. His pullover advertised a brand of candy that Darreth used to like until one of his pupils had glued it to his hair and face when he'd fallen asleep on the couch in his dojo. Sylvester was engulfed in his own laughter. Darreth continued to duck with his hand clasped over his head.

"What was that?!" He asked.

"That, my friend, was the Triple Tiger Sashay," Cole announced proudly. Sylvester continued to laugh.

"You looked so stupid," Sylvester said to Darreth. Darreth's jaw fell open. "Your mouth was really big."

Darreth's cheeks warmed. "How would you like it if somebody's random feet touched your head?!"

Cole wiggled his foot in front of Darreth with a laugh. "At least I'm wearing shoes," he said. "Wouldn't it have been gross if I'd had bare feet?"

"_Ew!" _The idea of feet made Darreth queasy. He flapped his hands in the air—and not to depict a feathery ninja move, either. Other people's feet grossed him out. Sylvester and Cole laughed harder at him. "What? I'm a germophobe!"

Cole laughed, placing his hand on Darreth's shoulder. "More power to you, brown ninja," he chuckled. He clapped Darreth's shoulder blade as he walked by. Darreth felt himself grow a little brighter at that gracious reminder. He _was _the brown ninja, wasn't he? He looked at Sylvester, who was recovering from his giggle fit.

"Actually," Darreth informed him, "that _is _true. I really am the brown ninja." Sylvester raised an eyebrow. "I should tell you about the time when I controlled the Stone—"

_Thwump. _Darreth jumped at the noise of heavy impact above him. It wasn't a promising sound coming from the upper deck. He exchanged a glance with Sylvester before the young boy sprung to his feet. He ran out the door. Darreth followed close behind.

**COLE**

The sound of the impact is what scared him the most. It sounded really painful to his sensitive ears. Cautiously, since he was already standing there anyway, Cole climbed the staircase quickly, making sure no one saw his extensively fast movements. He arrived on the main deck with his eyes scouring the evening's dark light. Those in the mechanics room had also sprung from their glue to the computer screen to see what had happened. At first, Cole saw nothing. But then he saw the bird.

The Falcon cawed, swooping low beneath the mast's flag, flapping its wings. Cole hadn't seen that bird since Zane died. He swallowed the lump in his throat—and then his eyes caught sight of what the Falcon was trying to show.

His heart rose.

_"Zane!" _He cried, running towards his beloved brother, whose eyes were just beginning to flutter awake. He tore across the rough wood of the _Bounty 2's _membered wood. Cole didn't know what this was. Was it an illusion, a fake? He prayed deep within his heart that this wasn't a cruel joke, but deep within himself he could sense that somehow, this was _real._ Cole fell to his knees beside his awakening friend, giving a cry of pure joy to hear a heartbeat underneath his skin. Zane was _human. _He didn't know how, or why, but someone had given him the chance to reclaim his beloved brother. Zane's icy blue eyes were just visible through his slit lids, but when they rested on Cole, a wide smile spread across his thin lips.

"Brother," he breathed, holding out his hand. Cole didn't take it, instead grabbing the ninja and yanking him into his arms, for once more than happy to be hugging a guy. Zane's arms responded in an equally as forcible hug.

"How are you here?" he whispered, leaning back to look Zane in the eye.

Zane smiled. "Magic," he whispered back.

"ZANE!" shouted Caroline, and there was the answering thud as she drove to her knees beside him, wrapping her arms around him. Zane looked overwhelmed with everyone as they crowded around him—especially by his father. Caroline sobbed tearless cries of joy into his throat as she hugged him tighter. "Oh, _Zane!" _she gasped. "You're here! You're really here!"

"I am," he answered simply. Cole watched him as Rikku and Julien pulled him to his feet, both of them competing for his arms to welcome him back into their lives. Cole helped himself to his own feet, out of the corner of his eye seeing Sylvester and Darreth arrive from the lower deck. Sylvester caught sight of the ninja and gasped.

"ZANE!" He yowled like a child.

Zane smiled. "Sylver!"

Enveloped in his friends, Zane was welcomed home warmly, his return mysterious but most grateful for. Cole couldn't have picked a better time for him to return from the dead. He just couldn't take his eyes off of him, afraid that if he looked away, Zane would suddenly disappear, and Cole would be forced to realize that it was all unreal. He watched the Clockwork Army embrace him with love and affections. There was no better feeling in the world than knowing that today, Cole had not only revived a love so intense it needed to be mended, but he had also gained back a beloved best friend.

In his joys he almost didn't hear the second thud from behind him.

The embraces froze, and Cole turned, unsure of what to expect next. But what he found was just as beautiful. "Kai!" He gasped. The ninja of fire was just hoisting himself to his feet when he gave Cole an exhausted smile. He looked like he could use a nap, but for now, he would have to deal with everyone. Sensei Wu, from Cole's side, gave a small noise of approval.

But everyone was weary of Kai. He hefted his weight. Of course everyone was going to be a little scared; the last they'd seen him, he was trying to kill them all. Or, well, not him, but Elathan. It was so confusing to try and explain. Cole prodded with his senses to try and pick up a dangerous, predatory feel from Kai, but when he found none, that's when he knew he was the richest guy in the world. He grinned like an idiot at his best friend.

"KAI!" He propelled himself into his friend's arms, practically knocking him over. A moment later, Zane was right beside them, engulfing them both in a hug. And suddenly, they were laughing uncontrollably, unable to fight their joy off with even so much as a toothpick. Cole's heart didn't hurt at all that night. Not anymore. Because even though he missed _her_…he had nothing to be sorry for.

Kai squeezed his shoulder. "Good to see you, Rocky," he said.

Cole rolled his eyes. "Better to see you, Hothead," he retorted.

"Dorks," Zane chuckled, and pulled them closer. Cole laughed again. He didn't know how, or why, but someone from above had taken mercy on the ninjas that night. Someone was watching. He smiled with the thought. Maybe monsters deserved happy endings, after all.

_"Excuse me! _Is anybody going to help the Cripple?"

Cole turned. Jay was just hoisting himself up the last of the stairs with two crutches under his arms, looking annoyed. From behind him, Nya gently prodded his back to move him forward, her face gentle from their Cole-induced nap. She caught Cole's eye from the distance.

And he saw nothing. Not even a flicker of memory.

So he grinned like the devil and moved over so Jay could see what he'd brought home.

Jay's eyes slid past Cole extremely slowly. It took him a lonesome moment to comprehend what he was seeing, but at the form of his best friends, Jay's face lit up like Ninjago City at night. His lips turned into that totally weird smile that everyone had to love. He couldn't hobble any closer, so he screamed at them from feet away. _"OHMYBANANAS!" _He started laughing. _"ISITREALLYYOUGUYSOHMYBANANAS ! NYAIT'SKAIANDZANE—KAAAIIIII!" _

Kai yanked Jay out of his crutches and clutched him hard. Cole watched him shake with laughter and tears all simultaneously occurring at once. Zane was there, too, holding him, and just as Cole started to question his idea to join, Jay called him over. "Come on! Don't leave my side cold!" He smiled at Cole. _Smiled. _

Like he'd never hated him at all.

Cole felt a rebirth coming on. He held tight onto his friends knowing that, as they were hugging continuously, and Kai was dropping kisses all over Nya's face, and Sensei came to join them in all his robotic amazingness, Cole took it as a_ definite_ sign.

A sign that there was still, however microscopic, hope.


	6. Chapter 5: She Who Cannot See

**DEAR EVERYONE: ****Since the polls don't want to work for me (,) I want you to answer, please, if you would, in a review WHO YOU WANT TO FILL THE 7****th**** SPOT IN THE NINJA's CRUSADE OF GOOD! Answer honestly, my friends, and thank you for reading! Go have an AWESOME day/night!**

**So let's check up on Lloyd today, shall we? ^^**

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_5. She Who Cannot See_

THE CELL WAS traditionally paneled with rough bricks sanded by time itself that bled most indiscernible liquids in the dark. The floors were coated with mounds of dirt, grime, dried blood, and animal carcasses to be watched for when crawling across it. There was no light, no means of viewing the outside world, other than the steel door had the smallest of barred windows to view through—but this window wasn't for fantasizing. It was for the daily pass off of the prisoner's everyday doses of bread and water. Chilly air enveloped Lloyd from the overall scent of death that expended the air, replacing it with instead a much less pleasant, bitter tang to the oxygen he consumed. There was no bed, no means of luxury, but rather an empty cell with only two lowly, fragile people surviving within it, though existence probably could end within a matter of days if someone didn't take action.

So that's why Lloyd planned.

He didn't want to rot away in this cell, miserable, cold, and horrifically alone. Well, that was true except for Seiko, whom he didn't believe was very safe at all. Whenever near her the Eye of his hand burned hotter than Kai's fire. It was trying to tell Lloyd something, but he wasn't able to discern what exactly the message was; it could be compared to trying to write a poem without knowing anything about letters or iambic pentameter. It writhed as true as his simile: _impossible. _

Lloyd rubbed the Eye with his calloused hands. His skin was dry, and it would've normally bugged him, but only habit ruled his nervous twitches when rubbing his skin. He didn't feel a least bit irritable, or dreadful, or sick or starving or dying. Lloyd simply couldn't feel but a ghost of these emotions in the past tense of his life. He understood now what it was like to be Zane, wholly descriptive, but lacking the vivaciousness beyond his words. He even thought in a dim, striking chord that played only one note on its monotonic tune. He didn't feel the voice beyond himself anymore. There was no pain, no agony to suffer through. His life now lacked the horrific nightmares he suffered through on a daily basis, leaving him to instead just take them as they came with a straight face and quiet superiority that lingered over his better person. One may say it was a miserable way to live (not in reference to condemnation in a cell) without uniqueness. But Lloyd?

He loved it. Er, well, not _loved, _but rather extensively enjoyed it.

There was no more suffering over losing three of his best friends to exile him to just one. There was no more stress over what he could seemingly no longer control. He was free of charge by these gruesome realities—what person wouldn't want to give up pain in order to survive?

The Eye began to burn.

She was near.

As you can imagine there was no light in the cell for him to use as a guide, other than that pathetic sliver allowed by that overly pitiable window. Only the dim shape of Seiko's slender body could be made out in the darkness, with a few barely-visible pops of color. For example, the purple of her small skirt was just _hardly _visible for him to make out, but her white shirt was easier to see. It was foggy in their cell, but Lloyd figured he'd make it out okay, considering there wasn't much to look at in and out of sleep. (There was no way to tell, in this world, what times day and night were.) Seiko remained comfortable curled against the wall with her knees cocked sideways, a position only girls could seem to master comfortably. Like the growing pattern had become over the course of the few days, she breathed awfully heavily and quickly at that. Every half a second she was taking in and letting go a new herd of air. Lloyd didn't understand the meaning of this strange, new routine, but he had every bit of idea that whatever it was had come from that stupid twerp kid, Noel, and the stunt he'd pulled on her all those days ago.

Lloyd's understanding of the subject was dim. After he'd fallen worrisome over her body (though it wasn't true emotion, it was more of an automatic instinct to protect his "team," even if it was just a defenseless girl) he'd been bound, gagged, and blindfolded. From there a rough transportation had taken place when he was thrown into what the Eye told him was a carriage of some sort that relocated slaves to their jails. When Lloyd woke up he had been greeted with this homey place. He didn't really get who Noel was other than this kid who looked to be about fifteen, thinking he could be better than anyone else because he wore some ridiculous costume that resembled an authority figure he actually respected: his father.

How ironic. If Lloyd didn't know any better he would've assumed that he was describing himself.

But least aside, he tried multiple ways to devise a plan of escape. So far, he came up with nothing creatively able to propel him and Seiko past these bloody walls.

He looked at her again. He felt his stomach twist into an unnatural knot at the glimpse of her; since his Humanity Switch was off, he didn't feel the negatively charged vibes rolling off her ill body. At the time it zoomed right over his head. Looking back on it he could've possibly done something to save her life if he hadn't been selfish enough to remove his Humanity Switch at the sake of never having to suffer death again. It was—and always will be—one of his worst regrets.

Her eyes, he found, never closed. That much he learned over time. He didn't know why, but they hardly did. She claimed to only see darkness, unable to pick out even the slightest of forms in the ebony she saw through. Lloyd figured maybe his edge was the Eye, granting him a minor ability to see further into the dark than the average person. But something still seemed not to make sense about it. He was determined to pick it out of whatever he came up with—it was just that now, though it pecked at his mind irritably, he didn't focus much on it. He instead found it more interesting to just watch _her. _

Why? He didn't know why. Maybe it was because it was his only entertainment. He watched the elegant way her back arched upwards in slow inhalations, watched her muscles relax with her exhales. Lloyd noticed she had really pretty, long, thin fingers, with equally as pretty nails. _Except _on her one index finger. There was no nail, not even the slightest hint of a newborn one. He wondered where it had gone.

Her thin, silky black hair came in choppy bangs that _always _covered her right eye. He hardly ever saw it from beneath the curtain. It identified her open eye, which was large, and almost a transparent shade of grey, unlike Cole's hard, visible ones. And, unlike the family inheritance, her eyebrows were narrow and thin, but black against her pale, creamy skin. His senses—again, he had the Eye to thank. It seemed like he _lived _off this thing—told him that there was something deeper to this girl than he had originally expected, and figuring out her detailed past was going to be one heck of a ride.

If he had emotions, he would've been startled. Lloyd didn't know why he was suddenly taking notice to these small, pointless things; they were knowledges he probably shouldn't even care about, yet those small details for some reason peaked his interest. He wriggled his nose to wash away the idea of watching her so closely. Not that she could see him, but it also made him sense he was violating her privacy, something Lloyd was against.

"Seiko?" he asked quietly. He watched her head turn in his direction, but she didn't look at him. She looked about twenty miles _past _him. He waved off the thought as that she had poor eyesight.

"Lloyd?"

"Yeah," he said in reassurance. Her face softened. "Why did Cole never tell anyone about you?" It was something he often would have normally puzzled over. So many secrets came to play with the ninja of earth now, it was hard to keep track what was an educated guess and what actually was reality. First vampirism, then a secret sister? All the ninja had been stunned to realize that he had relatives beyond his soul-singing father. What else was the rock-hard teenager hiding?

"Ha!" Seiko gave a loud, crisp laugh. She turned her head back to her stare of the ceiling. "Because he's not proud of me. Typically, no one is."

Lloyd cocked his head. It sounded like a story for him to entertain with, to pass time away until he got tired again. He scooted closer to convey his curiosity. "Why not?" he prompted willfully.

It seemed like one of those moments where an eye roll was in order, but Seiko appeared to blow over the blowing action. "It's really not all that important," she waved an elegant hand at him. "It's a sob story that really no one needs to hear."

Lloyd rubbed his hands over his knees, pulled to his chest tightly. His back pressed against the slimy wall. "What if I wanted to?" He found himself asking. He hadn't intended to speak beyond that, but found that unintentional question dangling between them. Even though he'd moved closer, Seiko's eyes didn't even come close to finding him when she turned her head this time. She was off by about seven feet in front of him.

Her one visible eye and brow contorted into a mocking grimace. "Why would you care?" she snapped. "It's just a dumb story about maternal death and paternal hatred. Nothing _exciting _like yours probably was, with bike-riding lessons and trips to Mega Monster Amusement Park, and all your green-ninja glory. "

Her quick bitterness normally would've caught Lloyd by surprise. He hadn't meant to offend her so…well, easily. He rubbed his knees again. "I think I can relate to one of the two," he responded calmly. "Besides, what else is there to do?"

Seiko turned away sharply, showing her back to him. Minutes passed. Lloyd came to believe that she wasn't in the mood for explaining herself. It was an actual shame; he'd actually really wanted to hear something about her. Though _mysterious_ was sometimes kind of edgy and partially fun, Seiko treated her mystery like she wanted it to stay hidden beneath the folds of her heart. Whatever had happened to her as a child must've been extremely scarring. Why else would you do your best to hide the truth from others?

He leaned back his head against the wall and flattened out one of his legs. His elbow rested lazily over his bent knee. With an exhale through puffed cheeks, Lloyd said, "And just so you know, my childhood wasn't all rainbows and unicorns, either."

"Oh?" snapped Seiko. Lloyd tried not to take offense to her instantaneously combustible attitude. "Why not?"

"My parents ditched me at Darkley's School for Bad Boys," he explained, but he didn't hold resentment to bring his tale of turmoil to life. "I didn't see them for a really long time. Until I met Sensei Wu and the Ninja, actually. My dad, you know, is Garmadon, so naturally he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. Mom—I dunno. She must've spaced out or something. It was a way for her to release herself from having to take care of me all the time so she could run off with her books and scrolls and stuff." Lloyd dug his heel into the floor. It peeled away a layer of dirt underneath the rubbery sole of his boot. Seiko started, slowly, to turn around with every word of his story, seemingly genuinely interested. "I was there for a while, but they kicked me out."

"Why?" Seiko asked. Again, she looked twenty miles past him—she must've been badly coordinated—but had a slight grin to her face. It was a pretty smile, he noted. "You too bad?"

Lloyd scoffed. "Nope," he said. "Too _good. _They thought I wasn't bad enough and just told me I was out of there without notifying my parents or anything. It was really…" He searched for the proper word. "…bizarre. So they sent me off into the streets with nothing but the clothes on my back—oh, _and _the map leading to the Lost City of Ouroboros. I kind of made some poor choices with releasing the snake army into the world, clan by clan. You would've thought I would learn after everyone I released, because they all betrayed me, you know? But…I'm not smart enough to think of that, so…" He shrugged, not that Seiko could've seen it staring at the other wall like she was. Why did she think he was over there? Sound travelling maybe.

Seiko spoke over heavy breaths. "Wow," she breathed. "Somebody caused trouble! I remember the nurses always read about snakes in the paper and worried over them in the staff lounge—"

"Nurses?" Lloyd repeated. Seiko froze. He found himself smiling as she belatedly realized she'd revealed something. _She was in the hospital? _He wondered, scooting closer yet. This was getting better by the second. _What for? _

Seiko turned her head down so he couldn't see her clear eyes anymore. "Yes," she said quietly. "Now, please don't ask any more questions."

Lloyd nodded. "Sure," he responded. He scratched his chin. "So…how old are you?" _Why not start with the basics? _They'd been living in silence all along. What better than to make some friends while being held prisoner by a thirteen year old?

Seiko blinked. "How old are _you?" _

"Uh…" Lloyd realized he had never actually given much thought to the age his transformation gave him. He ran through it in his mind in as fast a format as he could. "Seventeen," he concluded.

Seiko nodded her approval. She could've purred.

"And you?"

"Fifteen," she said without hesitation. "My birthday is too far off."

"Mine, too." Did that mean Lloyd would celebrate his birthday in physical years, or mental years? He puzzled over this for several minutes before asking, "So, uh, do you prefer…" He wracked his brain for something, but finding the embarrassing say-before-think moment coming on when he asked, "Uh…Turkey or oranges?"

Seiko laughed. Lloyd was fascinated by the sound of her twinkling giggles, emerging from her mouth in an octave that made him shiver. He didn't understand why, though prompting his inner self multiple times to try, always coming up empty. He liked to see that smile over her lips, lighting her singular eye, as opposed to the darkening of it without her lovely sparkle of life illuminate the room.

Then, Lloyd wanted to slap himself.

What was he _thinking? _

**SEIKO**

She couldn't see him—couldn't see anything, actually, not even her hand in front of her face. All was dark, undefinable in their prison, and she knew from experience that trying to move around would probably result in her hitting her head against the wall and cracking it wide. She already felt so weak it was hard to move. Her insides felt raw and her head felt stuffy, and to top that, there was a pounding headache rising behind her eyes. But somehow, even through the unpleasant realities, Lloyd had somehow managed to make her laugh.

Seiko shivered underneath the weight of her illness. It made her cool, weak, and improperly lazy, though it wasn't like she could do much anyway. The chords of life that wrapped around each person began to loosen. Soon enough, their grip on her would completely disappear, and she would fall spiraling into blackness thicker than the prison's that was condemning her to hell forever. She knew as well as anyone that she was dying—she wondered if Lloyd knew it, too. But she wasn't going to bother burdening him with her issues. It wouldn't be worth the embarrassment.

Seiko's laughter died in a panting heave. She shivered uncontrollably. "I'm a v-veget-tarian," she informed him, digging her nails into the wall for support. Like the _wall _was going to save her from clambering down into death. She hoped to the heavens that Lloyd, wherever he was, wouldn't be able to see her.

"Oh," Lloyd made the noise, but it didn't serve as answer. The tone of his voice made her squeeze her eyes shut. So he could see, then.

She didn't know why she cared. After all, he was just a _stupid _boy here watching this _stupid _girl he didn't know die, so why should he give a _stupid _crap? He shouldn't give any care in the _stupid _world. He was just one of those _stupid _people who watched death but it didn't matter when it wasn't some _stupid _person he didn't know. Seiko experienced an immense one-sixty-degree mood swing. Her previous uplift was now forgotten in the pits of her own anger and misery. She wished she would just die already, get on with it. She made a choked noise.

"Seiko?" She sensed him closer. It was weird, but she somehow knew he was there. A moment later, his hand closed around her waist, starting to hoist her towards him in whatever direction he sat. This ignited a spark of uncertainty to ignite the brash defense mechanisms resting inside of her body. Previous traumatic events—that none of _you _silly readers would know _any _stupid thingabout—caused her to act when she couldn't use her eyes to understand what was happening. She lashed out unknowingly with her fingers—before, the blow would've been traumatic. But in her sickened daze, it was no more than a child's slap to their parent's leg. Her hand barely even tapped Lloyd's arm with any kind of force behind it.

Seiko tried to fight with him. She really did. _Guy_ plus _holding her_ equaled _kill him with her hands. _Naturally, she had every right to be suspicious, though often times she did go overboard. That was fine. Her inner instincts took over the reins from there: _survive._

But Seiko tired very easily in her weakened state. Soon, her hands fell limp to the floor without having spilled any blood. Lloyd had seemed unfazed by both her random paroxysm and her mood swing/anger high. Her fighting had only been an obstacle. He pulled her to him, resting her head against the crook of where his shoulder met his chest. Seiko didn't like it. She didn't enjoy being hugged. Actually, she _hated _hugs. Seiko meekly pushed against his chest to impel herself outwards, but, as you can assume…it didn't work. Lloyd's hands touched her shoulders briefly, but even though he didn't hug her any longer, he kept her close to him protectively. It must've come with the Green Ninja ability to love all or whatever it was that he had.

"It's gonna be okay," he whispered softly. She couldn't see him. It was black where she saw. But she felt his warm breath gently stir her hair from her face, dusting her hair from her eye for just a minute. It would've been a nice sensation—if she could actually see—which, she couldn't. "I'm going to take care of you."

"_Pfffffff!" _Seiko cackled. It made Lloyd jump. Her laughter was loud, outrageous, and partially why everyone came to the assumption that she was insane; it was literally a cackle that rang in the air menacingly even after she was done. "Sure! Y-you do that!" She tried to continue laughing, but it fell away with a wheeze and a dying cough. She felt too sick, too stimulated now for having done that. Her shoulders slumped. She glared threateningly into the air in front of her. "You? Take care of _me? _I can t-take care of myself."

She scooted away.

"Look, I know this is hard," Lloyd said to her. Seiko felt around with her fingers, but continued to crawl. "It's awful. I don't know why we're here, and I don't know how. But I _do _know that it's my fault you're here. You don't deserve—much less _need—_to be wrapped up in all this. So, it's my duty to protect you, whether you're willing to let me or not."

Seiko felt around the floor blindly, but smirked. Her voice was low, almost a whisper. "You don't know me. You don't know _where _I deserve to be."

Her fingers came to sorts with the wall. She hoisted herself to her knees using its nooks and crannies to dig her nails into. "I don't have to," Lloyd said lightly. "I just know that no one deserves to be part of this that doesn't need to be part of it. This is between me, and a really pissed off demon from hell. Not you. And if you get _hurt _because of me…" There was a sigh.

It came from Seiko. She rolled her eyes. Twisting around to press her back to the wall, she felt its cold seep into her dreadfully hot skin. "You," she panted, "do _not _fit well with the tortured soul class."

Lloyd paused. "I…what?"

She gave a dry laugh. "You know, a tortured soul. Someone who isn't able to live with themselves because of their actions. It doesn't suit you. You seem like someone who is more positive than negative. If I knew you better, I may be able to say you're more…" She searched for the correct word. "Optimistic. Not _pess_imistic. But, I don't know you, so I can't make any kind of _psychic reading." _

There was a moment of silence. Seiko was glad she'd gotten Lloyd to be quiet, even if for a simple few seconds, because her stomach had writhed into knots again. She couldn't see him at all, but she could _hear _him quite clearly, more so than she had a few instants ago. It was like her hearing had somehow become extremely heightened within a matter of few, precious words. She could hear his soft breathing, his consternated exhale, the way his shirt caught on the coarse tack of the wall. Heck, she could've heard him blink through the way she somehow irregularly heard. Seiko had always been prone to hearing small sounds with her sensitive hearing, but now it seemed like she heard more than what she originally had. Maybe this was one of the final stages of her death. Because she was certain now that whatever witchcraft the costume twerp had cast on her was on its way down "glory road." She wasn't going to make it out of here alive.

Seiko heard Lloyd drag his shoes on the floor as he pulled them closer to him. Dirt mites caught between the traction. "You know," he murmured softly, "you don't have to push me away. We're stuck in here like strangers. I'd at least like to know you a little."

"Why?" Seiko snapped. Her words were winded. "What's it to you?"

"Are you always so defensive?" Lloyd asked irritably, only there wasn't that much emotion in his voice. "What's your deal? I'm just trying to make conversation. Be nice."

"Fine," Seiko growled. She held fast to the wall to pull herself into a standing position. Screw him. If he wanted to know something, she'd give him something. Something that would send him with his tail between his _stupid _legs. "You wanna get to know me so bad? I was born with bipolar disorder and extensive dyslexia. Cole was my only friend growing up, because everyone else thought I was weird because I picked up a dead bird in kindergarten and showed it off. I was never let out of the house as a child. I lived behind closed doors, while my brother got to walk in the sunlight and I could only fantasize. My father hit me when I was five. He knocked my head against the wall and almost cracked my skull wide, but gave me extreme brain trauma instead." Seiko's voice rose. "Then, since he's _so awesome, _he shipped me off to Sunnyside when I was eleven. I've been there ever since. Then I come to find that I'm broken out by some freak who looks _just _like the weirdo that threw us in this damn cell, and he shot me up with some kind of green stuff, to lo and behold wake up in that—that temple thing, and make me almost kill the one person I love in this _stupid _world, full of _stupid _people, only to watch him die, then be transported here with the _stupid _Green Ninja, to become sick by a _stupid _kid who I'm pretty sure is more insane than I am, and to feel so damn ill that I can't even stand on my own two _stupid _feet and I can't see and I feel so weak it's not even _freaking funny _and I just want to kill someone because this world is full of _stupid _people with _stupid issues, stupid, stupid stupid—"_

Worked up, Seiko's story fell with a jagged note when she felt Lloyd's strong arms wrap around her from inside the darkness. Her choked sob story transformed into real tears as she buried her face into his chest, only able to reach an inch beneath his chin because she was so small. Seiko only knew of one way to deal with death, and that came from experience. Anger, betrayal, and solitary lifestyles were how she propelled past her beloved mother's passing. But without Cole in the world, she now had absolutely _nothing. _

Seiko was three-hundred-percent sure she was getting snot and tears all over Lloyd's golden suit—the one she couldn't see—which would've bugged her more than sand between her toes, but he didn't seem to mind. Lloyd stroked the back of her head down the length of her hair in repeated, slow, calm strokes. His arm held her tightly into place as she seized him tighter than she'd ever held anyone she wasn't trying to kill. His chin rested on top of her head. "_Shh,"_ he whispered quietly. "Shh. It's okay. _Shh." _

She didn't deserve his unprompted kindness. After the way she had treated him just now, she seemed hardly justifiable for his sympathy. But it was nice to have someone's comfort, have them actually _hold _her because they cared, rather than trying to pin her to a bed to keep her from attacking. Her sobs deliberately began to die away into tired whimpers. Seiko honestly didn't have the energy left to continue crying, but she could've done it for years. Losing Cole was too much to handle right now. She grabbed handfuls of Lloyd's silky suit at his abdomen. Her forehead came to rest on his warm chest.

And she could feel his heartbeat beneath his skin.

Lloyd touched her hair again. "It's gonna be okay," he whispered. "I lost him too. My childhood wasn't so great, either. But you know what, Seiko? None of that matters anymore. What matters is how we are today, not how we were yesterday. That's why our eyes are in the _front _of our head rather than the back: so we can face the sun and let our shadows fall away behind us. Okay? Shh, it's okay, you don't have to cry. I'm going to get you out of here. We'll fix you. Shh. I'm here. I'm here."

He held tight to her. He supported her with his strength. If he would've let go, Seiko would collapse; her legs shook too badly to hold her own against it. She was getting sick again. But she could _feel _the meaning behind his words. She could _feel _the truth. He wasn't lying to her, telling her what she wanted to hear. Lloyd would do as he promised, even though he knew nothing of her. Seiko wished she could someday hold that kind of love for the good in the world. He believed there was good in her.

Somewhere, deep down, Seiko knew that too.

"You're gonna be fine," he whispered in her ear. He tucked away her hair over her shoulders. "I'm going to protect you. Okay? I'm going to keep you safe."

Seiko nodded underneath his hands so he could feel it. A soft noise of pleasure came from his throat knowing that he had settled the insanity. But just for a little while longer. Seiko didn't know she could fend it off for so long, nor could she against the dreadful wisps of death crawling into her throat. Her lungs felt heavy with every breath she took. So this was what it felt like. Unable to hold her own weight, falling against Lloyd's chest without a spec of ability left. Faintly she heard his voice, but it was far off beyond the buzz in her ears. She blinked. There was no difference between the dark of her eyelids and the outside world.

**LLOYD**

The Eye burned.

And it glowed.

"Seiko, come on, help me here," he gave a soft chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. She was completely limp against him. "Let's get you over there, okay? There's less crap on the ground over there. Follow my light. Come on, Seiko, use your feet."

She wouldn't. Her eyes stared ahead, glassy, unwavering. He held her at arm's length to get a better look at her. Her shoulders barely rose to fall. It was a sign there was still life in her, but her expressionless daze wasn't sitting too well in his stomach. He let go of her arm to wave the glowing mark in front of her face, and she nearly _dropped _without his support. He gave a startled noise when he swooped his knees to catch her against him. _Oh, no, _he supposed, _it's worse than I thought! _

Her heart beat heavily against his. He decided, after a moment of awkwardly standing and holding her, that she wasn't going to move on her own. Something was horribly wrong, and there was only one way to try and save her. He bent himself down to cradle her neck in the crook of his elbow and lift her by the back of her knees with his other arm. Seiko's arm woefully hung loose.

That's when he felt the feverish aura with his Eye.

Gloom. Darkness. Sickness. He set her gently to the floor, running to the iron gate barring him from the world outside, made of its unholy plate. He grabbed the rods patterning the small window and yanked. No use to try; Lloyd didn't have the strength. He kicked the door. "Hey!" He shouted. "Somebody! Help!"

His cries echoed off the empty, torchlit corridor. No one came to his aide. He rammed his shoulder hard against the door to shove it away, but there was no hope in that. Lloyd clenched his fists. He focused on hardening them, imagining the sole of a rock, unbreakable underneath even the toughest of storms. Then he slammed his fist into the iron.

Though there was a loud echo, it didn't budge.

"It's…pointless," whispered a faint voice from behind him. Lloyd whirled. Seiko folded her arms over her slender stomach. "Not…worth fight."

"Hey!" He ran towards her, kneeling at her side. Seiko's eyes were literally transparent. He could barely see her iris color anymore. Was that natural? Or was it because of the supernatural demise she was about to unrightfully suffer? Lloyd decided he wasn't going to take the usual dying martyrdom those who met expiry went through. "Don't talk like that," Lloyd commanded. "You're gonna be okay." He held up the Eye to her face to illuminate it. But that wasn't the scary part.

The scary part was that Seiko didn't even notice the light at all.

"Seiko?" He asked. She didn't flinch away from the light, but blinked instead, without even focusing on his eyes nor face nor even the glowing freaking hand hovering over her pupils. She looked past his shoulders with a heavy sigh of disappointment. _Slow death, _the Eye told him, _prolongs depression. _It gave Lloyd the thought that he could at least have more time to save her if she couldn't die off so fast. Except there was more than one realization coming to par to battle with the initial thought.

"What?" Seiko asked quietly. "Why do you sound so weird? What's your deal, dude?"

"Seiko…" Lloyd took in a deep breath. It came shakily. She didn't look to his eyes, not even as he spoke to her. It didn't look like an action of protest, or anger, but rather someone trying to focus on where they thought somebody was. "Can you see my hand?" He held the glow up to her face.

"No," she scoffed. His heart dropped. "Can _you _see your hand? It's like a black hole in here."

Lloyd dropped his ever-glowing means of sight. It fell to his lap limply as some kind of serious satisfaction flowed from the Eye's knowledge into him. He listened, but by then he already knew what had happened to Cole's energetic, admittedly kind of funny (in her own sadistic way) younger sister.

Seiko was _blind. _


	7. Chapter 6: Secrets, Lies, & Traumatized

**PLEASE READ: Everyone! Come to my profile page to vote for who should fill the seventh spot in the Ninja's Crusade! There's a list of characters to choose from—and choose wisely, my friends!****Some rather good points have been made by some specially chosen NFAN fans as to who should take up that spot, and the competition is getting tough! Vote now, or forever hold your peace!**

* * *

_6. Secrets, Lies, and Traumatized_

ZANE AND KAI had come to a mutual, silent agreement that telling the boys the bad news tonight perhaps was not the best of decisions. Jay, Cole, and Nya skirted off to bed with happy grins upon their faces; the depart between Jay and his beloved best friend was difficult to pry when he had to go to the other end of the _Bounty 2 _into the infirmary's enclosure. Nya was perhaps just as worse. Kai had watched with a ghostly grin on his face, and Zane knew, like every pleased human and droid aboard this recreated ship, that Kai was happy.

The happiness for his team was all Zane could've asked for. What beauteous glows could be marred by gloom so roaring tonight? Surely, he'd never find a shadow in its untamed glimmer. They followed Cole into the bedroom he assumed they had never seen before (when, really, they both had, though not in corporeal formats) that would now be claimed as the Ninja's bedroom, minus an injured Jay. Zane had come to re-meet Dani Mirandawright with a fond warmth in the back of his head. It was peculiar a feeling to encounter these people he'd only ever experienced last eras ago—whom he now could finally admit he remembered, for in death, he knew everything—as animated as he'd abandoned them. An hour had passed since the Ninja had laid down to fall asleep, yet he knew as well as the next guy that none of them truly had reached sleep yet. On the bottom bunk he found himself staring into the rungs of the mattress above him without actually visually accepting them. There was too much to run through his mind to be able to focus on something as blissful as sleep.

For instance, the excitement coursing through his heart. Zane couldn't get over that, not only was he alive and well beside the crusade of his fellow friends, but he was also _human. _It was a dream to have back into his hands at, of all people, an angry Elemental Leader, but gratitude was most brought back into his heart. He would not hate the Leader for exiling him, for that action transported Zane's blood back to reality to pour through real veins under real skin. Admittedly he knew he would miss being a nindroid. It would take plenty of qualities of time to get used to maneuvering through humanity again, but he was sure he would be able to make it. But at least now, he could grow old, and he could die along with his friends. In his future, there were children, a lovely wife, perhaps even a chance at attending that fancy technological college Jay had suggested he join a year ago under the circumstances that there was no evil to fight. There were truths in his future now, opportunities Zane had never been offered before. He was truly excited to begin his life. After he overcame all these obstacles, of course.

But, no matter. Zane scratched his wrist because of an actual itch. He grinned into the darkness. _Humanity. _He could taste it on the tip of his tongue, scouring his taste buds with its pungent bittersweet flavor.

There was a creak above him. Kai was restless.

"I'm not falling asleep," he said at last, aloud. Zane rolled his eyes. He knew that it would be Kai to break the silence first. "Is anyone else really disturbed by this?"

"No," Zane responded. "You are naturally a hyper person. Your primitive distribution of hormones and endorphins wakes you up."

There was a soft chuckle from the next bed over. Satisfaction, an existent emotion, floored through Zane's still body. "I love how you're human, but you still talk like a nindroid," Cole said lazily, rolling to his side. His elbow propped him against his pillow in the gloom, helping him face Zane better. Zane could see the faint illumination of Cole's silver eyes glowing through the haze of night in their bunkroom. "I also love that you just called Kai _primitive." _

"Nope," Kai said from above. "I'm not primitive."

Zane folded his hands over his stomach. Cole didn't argue, but instead his eyes fell half lidded. Zane didn't have to acquire a sixth sense to know that the vampire boy was exhausted, for reasons both obvious and deeper beyond Zane's understanding. He could feel Kai understood this, too, knowing well into factors but unable to dig so far downwards into Cole's mind. Zane was proud. Very, very proud. His friends were growing up, and too fast, it seemed. Jay was going to be a father; Kai was losing his childish edge; Cole was finally beginning to understand other people's emotions over his own; and Lloyd, though absent, was becoming more responsible than he had been upon Zane's first meeting him. It showed that time was passing quicker—how long ago had it been that they were just a bunch of rowdy kids attempting to learn the art of Spinjitzu and beating up skeletons? It seemed, in his own internal clock, only few days ago, but time served bigger purpose. He blinked sullenly into the dark.

"Why'd you do it?" Kai asked suddenly, jarring Zane from his memories. He blinked. Cole's eyes snapped wide open, and this time, they were glowing to their utmost potential, slick silver orbs piercing through the night. When Cole blinked it seemed as though the sun were blocked for a purposeful, abysmal moment, but redeemed quickly once he opened them again. If Zane were not used to his friend, he would've come to the conclusion that he was afraid of this instantaneous, impulsive predatory instinct. Cole's eyes snapped upwards towards where Kai lay over Zane's head.

"Do what?" He asked, but Zane knew Cole understood just what Kai was referring to.

"You know. Make Nya forget you and everything." There were responsive squeaks to Kai's movements. "I mean…That took a lot."

Cole looked away. He rolled onto his back to stare at the bottom of the bed above him. "I did it for Jay," he said. His tone ended in a final note.

But Kai pressed on. He was an unseen entity speaking from an invisible focal point above Zane. "Not just him," he said, "you did it for more than him. I had no idea that you…" There was a swallow in the pause. "Loved her so much."

Cole remained expressionless. "What was I going to do, feel guilty the rest of my life? I did it for her, and I did it for Jay. It was wrong of me to butt in like that. Besides, they're happier together."

Kai made a noise. "I don't know. I mean…I guess so. It's just that she seemed so happy with you too, I thought—"

Cole cut him off. "It was a phase," he said lowly. "It wasn't going to last forever."

"You were turning her into a vampire."

"I wasn't thinking," Cole closed his eyes. Zane could feel him trying to swallow his sorrows. It made him feel immoral. "I was just scared of being alone by myself forever. But whatever. It's gonna happen anyway. Might as well suck it up."

Zane uncomfortably squirmed, taking the place of everyone else as they used to think of the poor nindroid. Now he assumed there was no denying Cole's vampirism. What was done had already been done; undoing it was part of the categorized list of the impossible. It got partially awkward from there. Boys weren't naturally into long, deep talks about their feelings, especially about women; but the unsaid needed to be rested aside. Zane made it a mental goal to help Cole feel better, but for now, while attention was gathered and wounds still pulsed raw emotion, he decided a subject change was in order.

"You're very secretive," Zane told Cole. He had so many questions. "We were never aware that you were a vampire. Or that you had a sister."

Cole sighed. "Not many people do," he admitted.

"I thought we knew each other configuratively well." Zane blinked. "I was surprised to find out of what you had become, brother. Enlighten me: Why did you not want to reveal to us this? It seems you are the one with the most backstory."

Cole's neck arched backwards. He shut his eyes. "It's not easy telling you I'm a dancer. It's a million times harder to tell you I'm a vampire."

"But the sister thing isn't so bad," Kai added from beyond. "I would've thought that would be one of the first things we knew about you."

"Yeah, but…Seiko's got a bad rep." Cole's voice sounded tentative. They were walking on crisp ice now, ready to shatter at any given point in time. There was no telling what wrong step they took could lead them to bone-chilling temperatures made of the earth's anguish and torment. "I know that sounds kinky to you, but that's the truth. There're some pretty screwed up things about my past I'm not proud of. I ran away because… Well, I wanted to forget it all, put it behind me, move on. I never intended for anyone to know of any part of me I've kept hidden. The dancer thing isn't as bad as…everything else." His voice ended on a strange note. Zane listened closer.

Kai cracked his knuckles out of habit. "Why not?" He surged. "You could've trusted us with anything. We didn't hate Zane or think less of him because he was a robot. We accepted him, remember? We felt stronger knowing we knew him as best as we could."

"Yeah, but that's a robot. How would you like to walk up to your best friends and say, 'Hey, guys, just so you know, I'm a bloodsucking monster from hell. I eat people to survive.' I'm pretty sure at that point, you would've had some issues."

"You are not a monster," Zane said distinctly. Cole turned his head to look at him with his informally handy eyes. "No matter what you are. We do not think you are demonic, nor evil, nor any other insipid creature that may roam this earth. You must know that."

"Zane," Cole said slowly, measuring every beat of his voice to draw out the amount of seriousness in his words, "I drink _blood. _Doesn't that scare you?"

"It's creepy, sure, but so was Zane when his head turned in a three-sixty," Kai countered. "Cole, you're our brother. We were honest with you. I just don't understand why it was so difficult—"

"Because I'm not _proud _of who I am, Kai," Cole said in a pained tone of voice. "How can you not get that? I have _killed _to feed my own _survival. _I hate living with it. I didn't want you guys to know about it any more than you would've liked to be told that I was Lord Garmadon. Think about it. Am I really any better?"

"Yes!" Zane said matter-of-factly. "You are. I prefer you."

"Nice to know," Cole mumbled.

"Or what about Seiko?" Kai pressed. "Why so against her?"

"I'm not _against _Seiko," Cole groaned. He picked at a loose string attached to his green comforter. "I love her more than anything. For a long time, she was all I had, since my mom died. She was just unstable, and I didn't want you guys making some kind of relation between me and her being of the same mental accuracy."

"Unstable?" Zane repeated curiously.

"Insane. Whatever. She's not stable." Cole clenched his fists. "I didn't know she was in an asylum."

"How did you not know that?"

"No one told me, okay?" Cole pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. "Long story. I only figured it out when I read Misako's mind earlier. She's poorly misunderstood, and wherever the hell she is, she's probably so completely destroyed that I can't help but blame myself. If I'd watched her closer, I could've saved her. I'm her protector. I'm supposed to watch out for her, but, as it would seem, I suck at being a brother. So, there. No more questions." Cole rolled to his side, back barricading him from Zane and Kai, like that would stop them from being inquisitive about the disturbing past the Mitsuhides had smarted through. Zane watched him tug his comforter closer to his ears. "Now shut up and go to sleep."

All fell silent after that. There was no movement in conversation beyond Cole's jagged note. Within minutes, Kai was fast asleep; his soft breathing came rhythmic in a beat Zane listened to in relaxation. But Zane was not as gratefully fortunate. He didn't fall asleep at all.

* * *

Rikku stepped out of the bathroom, attached to the bedroom, wearing clean clothing and a better sense of how this generation preferred to dress. It was actually a huge variation between what he'd last seen and what had become of the world now. There were blue, crinkly trousers now with no suspension wraps whatsoever that Carolyne—excuse him, _Caroline—_referred to as _jeans. _The button downs traditionally worn by men were now reduced to sleeveless, tight, sheep-induced coverings called T-shirts that had ridiculous logos plastered across their fronts. They exposed his muscled arms too much for his taste. He eyeballed the thick text in the mirror. _Cannonball Chocolate Factory, _it said over a creepy grinning yellow smiley face. The eyeballs peered through the slanted lettering, observing in the _O's _in _chocolate. _He plucked at the words nervously.

Caroline stood behind the full, body length mirror, a smile on her face. Her long hair fell in bouncy curls down her shoulders, covering her own long sleeved button down, something women would've gotten slapped for wearing in Rikku's day. "You look very handsome," she complimented. "I like your hair."

"I do not." Rikku missed his long locks, usually conserved by an elastic band at the nape of his neck. Caroline insisted on making him look more modern, in terms of these dreadfully underscored years. Rikku had stopped her from hacking off anything above his ears, so now his brown waves fell to his chin instead. He felt extremely naked.

Caroline laughed. She patted the mirrors encrusted edge of golden trim. "You'll get used to it," she said. "That may take some time, but you will _definitely _get used to it."

Rikku sighed. Then, from the bathroom behind him, the door swung wide, revealing Ming in her fresh outfit that Caroline hand-picked from her wardrobe. Her face was a mask of true horror. The Chinese girl's brown eyes were rimmed with some kind of thick black marker of some sort that defined their almond shape more than before, with equally as heavy lashes to provide for it. Her shiny black hair was a waterfall over her thin shoulders. And Ming's dress was extremely…_improper _to someone like Rikku who knew women also would've been slapped, had they exposed as much skin he observed on her long legs now. What Caroline called a _jean jacket—_obviously of same material as his pants—covered Ming's arms, but beneath was a mid-thigh black dress that hugged her form tightly. Rikku actually wasn't sure if it was a dress or a shirt. It was too short to be of any dress he could consider in mind, but there were no pants beneath it, only a pair of high, pointy shoes he was sure could hurt when exercised as weapons. Still, he had to admit she looked attractive.

Ming stared in horror at her reflection. She touched her high cheekbones with her thin fingers. "Carolyne!" She howled. "What have you done to me?!" She gasped. Ming whirled on the girl.

Caroline poised her hands on her hips, unfazed. "It's Caroline," she started, "and I made you look like someone of _modern times. _You can't go walking around in public wearing a long dress and a bonnet, Ming. That's not how it works in this world."

"This is how people dress?!" Ming turned back to her reflection. She tugged on the end of her short dress insecurely. Caroline nodded, hand on the edge of the mirror. Ming shook her head in disgust. "So women dress like prostitutes and men look like slobs? Oh, Caroline, I don't like this at _all." _

"Deal with it," Caroline rolled her eyes. She let go of the mirror's rim to walk towards the closet. It was substantially larger than any closet Rikku had ever experienced. It held years and years of clothing Caroline had saved through eras and phases mortals went through pathetically. They bored themselves too easily. "We're going out, and like I said, this isn't a Renaissance fair. We're going to look as normal as possible."

"Where are we going?" Rikku asked enquiringly. He hadn't been warned of this plan. Caroline was wearing a determined expression as she removed a heavy stack of cash from some hidden space within her closet, piles and piles of dollar bills that made him gape. Never in his life had he seen so much money in one place! Caroline counted them as she walked across the room to slip on a pair of what she christened _sneakers. _They weren't very sneaky, however; Rikku still heard noise when she walked.

"That is classified," Caroline said almost absentmindedly, "until we arrive."

Ming held out her hand as Caroline took a thick stack of money she'd counted, passing it into the girl's thin palm. Ming's eyes widened as she played with its rough green paper in her hands. Caroline held out a similar wad towards Rikku. He took it hesitantly. "That's two-fifty for each of you," Caroline announced. She shoved her own hoard in the pocket of her "skinny jeans," which hugged her legs as tightly as Ming's dress hugged her voluminous body. Rikku peered at the crisp, new mixture of valued money before doing the same. Ming looked queerly between the two.

"What am I supposed to do with mine?" she asked. "I don't have pockets."

Caroline bent to grab something beneath her bed. "Stuff it in your bra," she said. Her voice muffled as she disappeared from Rikku's view. Ming's cheeks reddened.

"Why?" she cried.

"That's what girls do now."

Ming awkwardly tried to shove it down her cleavage. Rikku glanced away to find the auburn curls once more, surreptitiously avoiding watching his fellow sister operate a very challenging task. Caroline reappeared with a long, thick black box in her hands. It was half as tall as her. Immediately after its release, Rikku was hit with a blow of energy and power that radiated from the mysteriously cased object. Whatever was inside was strong, powerful, and meant for control. His brows furrowed.

"What have you got?" He nodded towards it. Caroline secured the clips holding the box shut, then dialed in a special code into the lock that held it together.

"That," she heaved it into her arms, "is _also _classified. Now, come on, let's go before anyone decides to wake up for a midnight call."

Flustered, Ming watched Caroline walk for the stairs. Her money had been safely tucked away. "But, Carolyne, shouldn't we tell Julien first, so he doesn't worry?"

Caroline rolled her eyes irritably. Rikku felt a frown come to his lips. Her emotions were most impatient, a sign he wasn't taking extremely lightly. She grabbed the handle of the door and yanked it open harshly. "Trust me, we're the last thing on his mind. He's too busy losing it over Zane's reanimation. He's obviously experiencing a serious case of _parental denial." _

Ming rubbed her hands together uncertainly. She pressed her lips into a thin line. "What do you mean?" She asked quietly, whispering through the danger of the hall so they could not be heard. She crept slowly on her heels through the dark wood of the hallway, trying with difficulty not to make noise with her ridiculous shoes. In the end, Rikku wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground, for she was miserably failing. It took Caroline the trek up the staircase and to the edge of the resting boat before she could actually answer.

Across the horizon was a town they'd met, docked neatly in the water outside its borderline village. Rows of dreamy, happy houses spanned the length of miles that Rikku could observe. Every light was dim with the honor of sleep for the humans resting unknowingly on the battlefield they laid on, unsure of their heritage or the tragedies that had once occurred there. Rikku felt overwhelmed with memory still burning holes in his rickety database. He was not comfortable here.

"He was already half-mad when Zane died," Caroline whispered. She stared into the roads leading from the dock they tied to. "Then, all the sudden, _poof, _he's back. It's not exactly fluttering like a little butterfly in his brain."

Rikku looked into the darkness at the shape of a car waiting for them in the parking lot before them. It was the shape of something designed to make quick escapes, something lingering in the darkness like a predator stalks its skin. Rikku sensed there was far more to the story that Caroline classified as confidential. He didn't want to leave her alone to accompany this journey with only her own company, so naturally he would comply with his gentlemanly heritage. But there was that single noise in the back of his head that warned him perhaps it was not the best of ideas to follow through with this plan.

Rikku had no choice but to ignore it. He would see to that of Caroline's safe return from wherever she was taking them. She placed her foot on the high railing to hoist herself up over the edge. It was a free fall descent all the way down.

She landed neatly on the dock. Rikku and Ming peered cautiously over the edge. With the black box still strapped to her hand, she waved at them to come down, move quicker than their pace. Rikku placed a hand on Ming's shoulder. "I shall go first," he said. He did.

Rikku landed noiselessly beside Caroline. She remained expressionless as he beckoned Ming to repeat their movements. The dainty Chinese girl with long legs seemed weary to involve herself in such actions, but momentarily complied, hurling herself over the edge in those unstable heels. A moment later, and she would've landed miserably, if not for his realization of poor choice in footwear. Ming gratefully squeezed his hand. "Thank you," she whispered, and followed Caroline down the wooden dock.

The moon above was only half visible. Stars aligned in such a blaze that Rikku could pick out no visible constellations. He would not have time to stargaze, however. Their mysterious journey continued while Caroline made her speech, "From this point, we'll be chauffeured to Ninjago City, which is about seven miles away from here," she explained. "In two hours, this driver will come to pick us up exactly where we're dropped off." They reached the car's slick, glossy black body works, a car that was completely shocking to two people who hadn't seen such incredible handiwork yet. Rikku and Ming had no time to gape. The windows were like black fortresses stopping them from looking inside, but Caroline tapped on the back door, allowing her a moment to turn back to them with a stern glare. "And just so you don't make any stupid mistakes, let _me _do the talking."

The door popped open. Caroline stepped back, waving her hand elegantly towards the car's carriage. Rikku exchanged a somnolent glance with Ming. He wasn't so sure he was enjoying this trip anymore—not that he had ever started. She looked equally as unconvinced. Their gazes came back to Caroline, who stood there with her hand on the car's door, impatiently tapping in a rhythm to its metal shield. She raised her eyebrow at them and waved towards the car's elegant black interior again.

"After you."


	8. Chapter 7: Blast from the Past

**What's going on aboard the Bounty in the midnight hours while restless souls tend to their needs? Use the best of your NFAN ****_and _****Ninjago knowledge and redeem some old info from deep inside your mind to see if you can pick up on some surprising new details of the Ninjas' position!**

* * *

_7. Blast from the Past_

GARMADON PEERED CURIOUSLY at the escaping, sleek black car that peeled out of the scene. The sun had fallen completely away from the sky, leaving them in darkness, the only way he felt as though he quite understood properly to maneuver. The moon's glow cast a transitory glow upon his observatory at the bow of the _Bounty 2's _dragon head. He held fast to a dark red eyebrow to watch closer into the distance. Those three robots had run away into that very car which was now almost a black spec in the horizon line. The redhead had something with her—a long black box he somehow felt familiar to him. He felt like he had seen that same shape before but knew he hadn't, at least maybe not in this lifetime. He puzzled over it while he considered the options of leaping off the boat into this forsaken town to follow them.

Certainly, no one up and left with a suspicious black box to go buy an ice cream at midnight. They were up to something, and Garmadon knew that if he passed this up, he would miss one of the biggest moments ever to come into his life.

Who had been behind that wheel? Garmadon hadn't the chance to get a good look at the driver. The window was never rolled down. But he had a sick feeling resting in the pit of his rolling stomach. This wasn't something to take lightly, which was for certain. He decided, with snap decision, that he would follow.

You may think to yourself: Garmadon, and his old, creaky legs, following a high speed, sleek car, who already had an advantage, through the night? No, that's more than likely not possible. But he has his ways. When spending so much time to crawl on his hands and knees through the drunken lands of the Underworld, one picks up on his means of transportations. In this case, he took a devious detour. There was a high chance standing in his mind that he would sorely fail and land crashing upon the earth's crust with a bone shattering scream. He reminded himself he'd never know if he didn't force his own into the thought.

Garmadon grabbed the Sky-glider, resting aboard the boat's main deck. He had already come prepared. The mechanism the Tinkerer decided was plausible to keep handy on board was quite useful, especially when he needed to travel in stealth. Already familiar with the hanglider's workings, Garmadon slipped on the chest piece attaching him to the wings and propelled himself outwards, using the jet-encouraged boosters on the back to lift him into the air. The muffled exclamation of the fire powered wings gave slow groan in release. It appeared they hadn't been used in a while! Garmadon used his minimal upper body strength to flap the wings with the levers attached to this marvelous chest piece. He reminded himself to repeatedly thank the Tinkerer when he returned (after busting these strange robots, of course.)

The night air was cool on Garmadon's face, silencing his pitiful worry over his missing son. Garmadon didn't know where, how, or why Lloyd was gone, but there was determination to earn him back—even if Misako had gone off the deep end. The elderly woman wooed over his brother consistently without even the bat of an eyelash in Garmadon's direction. And, strangely, he preferred her ignorance over her attention. Surely that was inappropriate in a marriage, but he didn't really care. All he wanted was to get back his son and stop this demonic, hell-driven thing from destroying his home. Not his wife's sudden choice to change teams.

He caught up with the car not too soon after he'd left the rebuilding town of the Fireman's Circle. Night kept the people at bay, but it had taken plenty of persuading from Garmadon, Wu, and that powerful Earth Ninja Cole to get the mayor to allow them to dock in the village for the night. The Fireman's Circle was a weary town. Garmadon knew they were instantaneously apprehensive of all who came and went, no matter what you'd done or who you'd saved. He was glad he'd shed his black skin, for he would not have been on the inducement team if he still donned the face of an evil Lord. Though it was still same skin, eyes, nose, mouth, and voice that continued on the bitter part of his legacy, Garmadon didn't feel the same as he had when contaminated with the Devourer's energy. He felt cleaner and less cluttered without the deadly venom.

The black car below him drove on a desolate road backed by power lines but nothing more, grassy lands beyond its dirt path. He flapped quietly in time to match the car's speed, for fear of veering too far beyond, behind, or sideways igniting a reveal of his stealth. He wished he had the ability to super-hear whatever they were saying. He could possibly be following a bunch of rowdy kids sneaking off to a party with beer stuffed in their violin case.

But after a moment of debate, Garmadon decided that wasn't it.

He raised his head to glance into the horizon. The road stretched further into the distance with hardly any deviations from its main path for miles. It didn't take Garmadon long to get bored hovering and flapping unceasingly in a fashion that was extremely monotonous. He gave a thick yawn.

Miles past, and so did forty-five minutes. Garmadon was almost considering defeat when he saw the jagged empire rising in the distance in many rectangular shaped forces. He felt bewildered at the sudden revelation.

The robots were heading to Ninjago _City. _And there was no mistaking the quickly forming black cloud that even was visible to the naked eye in the midst of midnight that lingered over the skyscrapers with dead efficiency. The storm cloud was being born rapidly as it crawled across the sky. It only told him one thing and one thing only:

The Overlord had returned.

**COLE**

She fell limp at his feet, a pulse absent in her vein. Cole dragged his hand across his drenched chin—but what good would it do but smear what human excretions he'd created? Disgusted, he abandoned the girl's corpse in the alley with absolutely no intention of cleaning up after himself. It would be pointless to waste time burying her in the ground or stuffing her body into a trash can no one gave a flying hoot about. Cole was starved, and he was so ticked off, he was absolutely, positively oblivious to _any_thing that involved any living person populating this earth.

Zane and Kai had been fast asleep when he slipped out of the bedroom and into the Fireman's Circle, plenty of distance away from the _Bounty 2_. But if he were to be staying in the creepy town of equally as creepy individuals, he'd be ruining everyone's luck to suck victims dry in a town that already considered all religious possibilities that vampires existed. So, with the twenty-bazillion miles it had taken to cover in less than ten minutes using his ultrasonic super-speed, Cole was now fleeting through the dark, dim alleys of Ninjago City. He was in a mood. A mood that was classified under _pissed off, angry, _and _spitefully heartbroken. _It came with the package of heightened emotions and some epic teenaged vampire issues, but he didn't give a damn. Cole's pocket knife swung around his finger as he stepped in-tune to the loud music blasting in his ears.

City-people knew not to roam the streets at night in this wretched place from previous experience. It created something of a concern for him, but there was nothing stopping Cole from sucking somebody dry without the assistance of a bendy straw. _Four weeks. _That was how long it had been since Cole had tasted blood, far too long for him to go without feeding, and he could feel it degrading his muscles. That girl back there hadn't been enough to quench the burning thirst in his throat. He needed _more. _And he had no problem getting it.

_Scarlett Ribbon _was open wide with glass doors as big as the Dojo's, inviting him in with the sweet smell of liquor, sweat, bar fights, and beating hearts. He knew it was the best feeding ground for a vampire at night—after the Final Battle, all of Ninjago City closed every damn shop except for few choice locations which did _not _include gas stations. Bars mostly were in tune to his rhythm, since going to an orphanage just wasn't gonna fly. It was easier that way, anyway, to capture some dumb idiot into his inviting grasp. The predator and the prey walked in the same building once Cole stepped foot into the property. The dim lighting cast shadows all over every human body there was inside, which disappointingly added to an unsatisfactory ten, not including the pretty waitresses. Cole plucked out an earbud but kept the rock music screaming at him as he waited to be seated, as commanded by the fat black chalkboard he practically tripped over. The bar flattened across the back of the small corner tavern, dividing up the rest of the room to the circular tables and square booths along the walls. There was no one beyond the circular tables with the smelly, disgusting male mortal's gazes fixed on the wide television screen portraying a sport Cole cared nothing of. He looked around for something good to eat.

She was gorgeous, in the taste of a vampire. He preferred the pretty, the curvy, and the sexy when he was in these self-destructive, binge-bloodsucking moods. He liked to be able to dip below positivity every once in a while. It was extremely healthy to someone as out of order as him. He found his gums stinging with the hunger to release his fangs, but he refrained. Gah, she couldn't be a day over twenty-five, he decided while examining his dinner. She walked up to him with natural, bouncy brown curls, creamy complexion, and friendly, makeup-ridden brown eyes. The girl's nose was naturally straight and pretty, while her lips, wearing an irregular deep red, invited him in. She had on her waitress' uniform—a pencil skirt and matching black-button up with a strange red ascot—with a pair of ridiculously high heels. Despite all her voluminous similarities to the average woman, though, he felt like he knew her from somewhere. She stopped at her little podium to grin at him secretively.

"Welcome to the _Scarlett Ribbon," _she said sensually, and Cole made the connection with that ascot covering her long throat. She sounded familiar, too, but that was probably just him. "Table, booth, bar, or are you meeting someone special?"

Cole plucked out his other earbud and shoved it into his pocket, giving her his best smile. He leaned forward to rest his forearms on the podium's edge. To get close enough meant to have a better telepathic connection with her so that he'd be able to open her mind wide to let his Compulsion flow soothingly in—but first, he played innocent, subtly giving her slow blinks. He saw the girl's breathing startle and her cheeks rise in color, but that endearing smile remained.

"Well, baby," he murmured deeply, "I think I already have."

The girl giggled, holding a menu in her hands. "Well, have you now?" She said quietly. The nail of a manicured fingertip scoured the edge of the menu, from nervousness or giddiness, Cole couldn't tell. Her heartbeat quickened beneath her chest.

Cole focused on her eyes, using every ounce of new power from his last batch of blood to reel this one in. The girl's smile went a little slack. Oh, yeah, he had her, alright, linked onto the hook of his mind's grasp. He felt satisfied that he had enough power to charge him through his next meal. "Come take a walk with me," he said soothingly, roping her in with his raw power. The waitress fell to his ability of mind control too easily, but he was this far into the game to stop and complain. She offered her hand in a victim's gaze, and Cole eagerly stole it, practically dragging her out the front door into the neighboring alley. He preferred to kill them when in the shadow of street lamp's monotonous rays, where it was not so uncommon to witness a murder, should a witness decide to show his face. And plus, abandoning the bodies was much easier to do when he didn't have to drag them anywhere.

The girl seemed to be just a sneak past his Compulsion. She offered him a flirty smile when following him down the alley's dark towers. "Where are you taking me, mysterious stranger?" she asked lowly, holding tight to his hand. Cole winked backwards at her.

"It's no place exciting," he warned. "But I'm sure as a last glimpse of life you'll enjoy it."

Cole whirled, his super speed taking over to where the pretty waitress could only see him as a blur. Under the spell of Cole's power she was not startled or scared, but accepting of him; it was sad that he had to Compel those around him to stay resolute instead of fleeing rather than basing off of trust. Cole shoved aside evil thoughts. _I'm here to have fun. I'm not going to ruin this for myself. _

Cole's hands found the skin at the waitress' hips faster than someone could've blinked. He forced her against the brick wall behind her with animalistic fury. This was the best part, the send-off before his fangs took the reins of driven hunger. He reveled in the taste of her warming skin under his lips as he tested her flesh with his mouth, tasting her with his tongue, feeling alive under the weight of his superiority. The girl gave a startled moan. He felt it rumble through her throat before fluttering through her beautiful, full red lips; Cole lifted her legs to wrap them around his waist. Why not have a little fun before he ended it? After all, his last victim hadn't been the least bit exciting. Her hands slipped unknowingly through his hair before she could resist the shade of Cole's controlling rule. She pulled his lips to hers, tasting him with her tongue, shoving it past his teeth. It was his turn to give such a bewildered noise, but it came blissed, abandoning sounds of insecurity. Cole kissed her back hard. God, her lips were soft; he almost couldn't remember that he was mourning Nya. He pulled her closer to him with the excitement. The only girl, believe it or not, he'd ever kissed had been Nya; now, with her swooning in the arms of her boyfriend, Cole had the chance to kiss someone else who didn't come with as much baggage.

The waitress' hands held to his cheeks, pulling him closer. Cole's brain felt ecstatically foggy. This random girl he'd decided to pluck out of a city tavern was now proving to be a well-picked choice. Cole considered putting off her death to spend more time with her when she bit his lip playfully. He held to her tighter. God help him. God help every part of his hellish soul.

"I—never—caught your name," she gasped as Cole kissed her throat. She clutched at his hair. Momentarily he found himself puzzled. He'd Compelled her to be quiet, to keep her mouth shut. Why was she talking?

"Cole," he whispered, pulling her closer. He nibbled her ear. The girl gave a satisfied clamor.

"I'm Maya," she whispered into his ear. Her legs clung tighter around his waist. Cole was completely sure there was absolutely no air between these two complete strangers. She breathed hard, heart beating against his, running her thumbs gently across his cheekbones. Cole touched his lips to the bare skin from her chin to her collar bone, tracing an elegant trail of hot kisses down Maya's throat. "Have…have we met before?"

"Doubt it," Cole murmured. This reminded him of how much he _longed _to find love. He was nineteen, for heaven's sake, about to turn twenty in two months, and he couldn't find anyone other than his best friend's girlfriend to faint over. How pathetic. Cole grabbed Maya's face between his hands and kissed her hard again. His face warmed. _Kissing strangers,_ he thought breathlessly, _is one of the _best_ decisions I've ever made. _

Maya kissed him back equally as forcibly. It only made him want her more. He growled in spite of himself, feeling his stomach twist into a lonely knot with the knowledge that he'd return to the _Bounty 2 _with his hands empty of anything as sensational as a woman in his arms. He traced her lower lip with his tongue. Maya moaned.

"Why—me?" she whispered against his mouth. Why was she still _talking? _Cole sent a shockwave of powerful Compulsion warning her to cease conversation, but Maya paraded through his ability, oblivious. Had he used up all his power already?

"Why _why you_ what?" Cole asked her, more focused on her mouth than the words it spoke.

"Because I don't even _know _you," she whispered, "but you're kissing me like…" Maya gasped against his lips, "an animal."

Cole pulled back slightly; his mouth ached with the loss. The connection flying between he and Maya was stronger than anything he'd ever felt before; maybe it was him being high on blood and hormones (which was more than likely the cause) but it felt as though there was some unseen warning in the pit of his heart. "You shouldn't be understanding that," he frowned, more for himself than Maya. Something was _definitely _wrong here.

Maya gave him a quick dab of her mouth to kill the frown. Then, she smiled, showing small, pearly white teeth in response. "I can't be Compelled, Cole," she responded softly. Cole felt as though he'd been slapped across the face. _What? _Before sputtering some kind of response, she pulled him closer so he wouldn't run away. "Don't worry. It's not you. It's more me than anything." Maya's hands slipped around his back, curving upwards to wrap around his shoulders. Cole shivered. "I can feel your power rolling off you, though. I must say…you're pretty strong."

She traced Cole's eyebrows with her fingers. He looked at her shadow-eclipsed face with a strange feeling. He wasn't quite catching onto any part of how this actually worked. "How do you know that?" He found himself asking. Maya chuckled.

"Because, stupid," she said, glancing into his eyes, "I'm a vampire too."

**ZANE**

He dreamed of snakes.

He dreamed of death.

He dreamed of darkness overwhelming Ninjago City, a darkness so great it swallowed the town whole with one bite, growing as it consumed.

He dreamed of Cole, a vampire feasting on his prey.

He dreamed of Kai, who dreamed of a future beyond all this (which inaccurately claimed that this battle was easily won) with a beautiful life of normal living.

He dreamed of Jay, who dreamed of the day his baby was born, a beautiful baby girl resting in the sweet cocoon of Nya's arms.

He dreamed of his father, who dreamed nothing at all.

He dreamed of his brother, who was uncomfortable and sitting beside a casing of powerful weaponry with the impulse to open it but order not to.

He dreamed of Caroline, who suddenly hated him.

He dreamed of his future.

He dreamed of his death.

He dreamed of Eloquim, and the Overlord, and the Shadow Key's evil bidding.

He dreamed of Elathan.

He dreamed of the Elemental Leaders.

He dreamed of Lloyd, who was caged, pacing like an angry bull throughout his kennel, with the form of a small body resting sightlessly at his feet.

He dreamed of Seiko, who saw nothing at all.

Then he dreamed of seven. _Seven of the good, millions of the bad…the odds are rough to beat. _It begged him a tangible question: Are dreams ever truly dreams?

**COLE**

Whispers. Oh, God, he could hear her whispering in his mind, forcing memories to come flooding back through his brain like the floodgates had opened. They poured out every brain cell he had, infecting every fiber he'd tried to clean of its shallow evil. So long Cole had struggled to keep this part of him hidden, but now, with her laughter and Latin whispers echoing through his concentration, he couldn't stop them from coming. Memories of his mother's murder flashed through him, and the rest of that awful, mortifying night_: A terrible storm in the winter of night, chilling his family to the bone. The sudden crash of lightning through the house while the front door was kicked open by some unseen, supernatural force. The loud scream of Cole's mother in fear reverberated under the muffle of constant thunder and storm. The noise of rushing air fluttering past them, their bedroom door opening wide without ever seeing anything truly there. Seiko screaming and holding fast to Cole, who hid her with him curled inside his bed, afraid for her. She buried her face away into his chest, but not even it could blind her from the form that now loomed over their bed with a deadly smile. The girl's form was tall, slender, and agile. Cole remembered thinking she moved like a cat with grace and craze at the same time. She smiled at him through the flash of the lighting through his window, and Cole felt his heart pound harder at the sight of her reaching for the covers at the end of his bed. _

_"Hello, my love," she cooed, grabbing fistfuls of the purple quilt and slowly dragging them towards her. Seiko shrieked but would never be heard over the screams of mother nature's violence. The girl crooked her finger at him. Cole refused to do anything involving doing what that finger told him to do. He didn't know how to react, how to speak, how to show strength when all he felt was fear. His heart thrummed quicker than the pound of rain against their window. The blue lightning flashed and illuminated the girl's body again. _

_Orange robes. Cole remembered that the most. Orange robes with a turtleneck throat. And blood red hair, long, pointy bangs aiming the zenith down her nose, and those thick, cold black eyes. Seiko screamed harder, crying into his shirt. _

_"Get rid of that wriggling thing," commanded the girl. She pointed her finger hard towards the bed on the other end of the room, opposite Cole's. Seiko clutched tighter to her brother. "Go! You're irritating me with all that screaming."_

_"Go," whispered Cole, only twelve at the time. Seiko protested. "It's safer over there! Go, sweetie, go!" _

_It took a fight to get her to leave, but Seiko huddled herself in the corner of her bed after the girl swore she'd not lay a hand on Cole's sister—and promise did she keep. The girl slowly climbed towards Cole over the comforter with her eyes glistening in the flashes of cerulean pouring through the siblings' bedroom window. His heart pounded madly in his chest, back braced against the wall. The girl poked at him. She looked only twelve, too. She crossed legged herself in front of Cole with a creepy grin on her face. "Let's play a game," she whispered, then whispered something in Latin: a song. "Blood rose my beautiful" was later the title he learned, but then, Cole was just scared and didn't listen to anything she said. The girl poked at him after her melancholy melody ceased. Under her jabbing finger Cole flinched. Every finger punch left a bruise._

_"I'll be a monster," she said quietly, "and you'll be my victim."_

_"That doesn't sound fun."_

_"Shut up!" the girl shouted at him. Her bloody hair fell over her eyes. "I make up the rules. If you want to live, you're going to play, too."_

_And Cole did. Every designated night for three months, on the third day of the every week, she came. She played with him the same game which she later named "Predator." When the girl finally stopped coming, it was not because Cole won or that she'd left him peace. It was because Cole was an old toy she meant to play with forever—but every toy gets lost sometime…_

Memories of the pain in his throat when she bit him, then the succulent taste of growing needs of her own slit wrists pouring down his tongue reminded him of this past. Cole couldn't hold Maya anymore. Maya—if that was even her name. Her transforming face began to thin, to rail, her hair growing to her shoulders and deepening to that of blood, her uniform falling past her knees to that same, long orange, turtlenecked robe she had when they first met. Her black eyes were still obsidians glistening under the street lamps provided for their guidance. She was no longer twelve, but rather a grown woman, perhaps of Cole's age. Her chest filled out, her height changed after the heels miraculously disappeared with the rest of the façade she'd taken to fool a hell-driven Cole. She turned into a seductress, an empress of power that smacked him head on when she revealed her true form. She would've been beautiful if Cole hadn't been disgusted with the sight of her. "_You," _he spat, leaping away.

This was the wretched monster that forced him to become a vampire against his will in return for his family's peace. Seiko, Lou, and he, under those circumstances that in that storm this same girl murdered his mother out of anger that she had not complied to what the girl asked. Cole clenched his fists but didn't know what to do. He stepped away from her. There was a good sized amount between this murderer and himself. The girl leaned lazily against the wall, grinning evilly, and that was when Cole's senses made a connection between this girl who haunted the past he didn't talk about—this girl who he had nightmares about consistently—and Eloquim, the most despicable creature of them all.

This girl, his worst fear, was working for Eloquim. He had _sent her _after him, knowing it would make Cole weak with this past terror that now steeled him to the spot he stood in, frozen in the middle of the alley. His horror couldn't be concealed.

The girl poised her hip to the side, tilting her head to give him one of the most insane smiles he'd ever seen. It almost looked…Cole shook his head to clear it. If he were stupid, he'd say it almost looked like Seiko's smile.

"Hello, Cole," she whispered, her voice the same octave as it was when she first visited him. In the dim lamplight, she extended her hand, a peace offering he didn't want to take. He recoiled from it in fear. Her black orbs for eyes bore into him with the hell she literally came from. "My name is Kiko Maya. And I am the Original Vampire."


	9. Chapter 8: Could this get any Worse?

**PLEASE ANSWER: Who do you want to read about next? A) Lloyd & Seiko, B) the Ninja, or C) Cole**

* * *

_8. Could this get Worse?_

"WHAT HAVE YOU GOT, Caroline?" growled Ming for the umpteenth time in the approximation of four minutes. She stared hard at Caroline, who rudely took no notice to her, instead staring out the blackened window with fake interest. The only thing that rolled by was dirt, horizon, and more dirt, but for some reason there was some peak of fascination that it carried. The holy black box that still radiated power leaned at her side, but not once did Caroline release her grasp on it, not even to wipe away hair in her eyes. Rikku leaned around Ming's stern form to watch the young, redheaded android. He sensed every ounce of wrongness here with a sharp intake.

Once again, Caroline remained silent. Ming's fists clenched over the short black material of her dress in her lap. The interior of the car provided plenty of space between each of them, which Rikku was thankful for. If he had been any closer, Ming would've probably punched him in the face more than once. She was _extremely_ angry. And Caroline knew it.

"Carolyne, _anata baka, _tell me!" Ming slammed the heel of her hand into the seat, causing a seismic wave of force to ripple through the car's interior. It made the driver have to reconstruct his driving. There was a black wall between the droids gathered in the back of this automobile and the man operating its path. Rikku never got a good look at the driver—and it seemed, with this barrier, that was how it was supposed to be. He uncomfortably shifted in his cave against the door of the vehicle. Caroline remained impassive.

"Shut up, Ming," she said monotonically.

Ming gave a gasp. Her fingers flexed. "UGH," she growled. "You know what? I vow you _never _drag us out here into the wild without my consent _ever _again. I'd like to know what we're doing and why we're doing it if we're going to do any of this. I mean, I wouldn't ever see _Zane _doing this. Don't you think a leader is supposed to run the agenda by their fellow teammates first, huh, O wise _Leader?_" Irritation dripped off Ming's tongue. Thankfully, there were interior lights installed into the roof of the car so that Rikku could observe the scene in full view. He watched them with a cautious eye but did not interject.

"I don't _care _what Zane would do," Caroline growled at Ming viciously. "I'm obviously _not _Zane."

"No, but he's your boyfriend, and you cared what he would do the last time I checked."

"He's not my boyfriend, and I'll say it again: I don't care what Zane would do."

Rikku's brows furrowed curiously. Caroline had never denied her love for his brother before. Usually she flaunted their romance proudly. But now it was the only thing hanging in the air between the three. Ming's face scrunched into an unearthly scowl at the leader of their parade.

"Whatever!" She scoffed. "You do _too. _And he is _so. _What, did you guys get into a fight after he returned from the dead? Or did you get jealous because he's human?"

Caroline rolled her eyes irritably. Rikku listened intently. He knew that interrupting this heated conversation would result in lingering angry feelings in which wouldn't be dealt with, but rather gain interest over time. It was better to remain a referee than to actually stop them from battling it out with verbal abuse. But he felt weary once his brother's name was said. The way it rolled off Caroline's tongue was almost bitter.

"Neither," she spat. "Zane and I just aren't as close as we used to be."

"You'd think that would equal you trying to reconstruct your love, not push it away," Ming said matter-of-factly. "He still loves you—I totally saw it in his eyes when you two were 'dancing' earlier tonight. The way he looked at you was precious. And when he kissed you, even _I _envied it, and I don't envy. Now you're saying _you're not close? _I think he wants to be close again. How will you help it if you're just stabbing a wound rather than patching it? You could use a couple of tips from whatsherface. Nya."

Caroline made an angry groan. She pressed her forehead to the cool glass of the window and closed her eyes. "Ming," she begged, "_shut up." _

"Why?" pressed the insistent Chinese girl. Rikku smirked at her insufferable consistence. "All it is would be you being all weird and teenager-y, which, frankly, is really stupid. Come on, it's _Zane." _

"I. Don't. CARE."

"I. Don't. BELIEVE YOU. Why wouldn't you care?"

"Because!"

"Because isn't an answer, it's a _sentence fragment!" _

"Ming!" Caroline shouted. Rikku raised his brows. "Because I don't _love _him anymore!"

_Slap. _Rikku felt it hit him in the face. He recoiled against the solid door of the vehicle's barring cage, watching Caroline glare uselessly at the two. He did not sense her lies. He sensed her honesty just as well as he sensed the power radiating from the black case. Oh, dread, how could her love for him fade so quickly? Rikku knew the news of Caroline's romantic departure would just break Zane's heart, and for what! That was the last thing he wanted to happen to his baby brother at such excruciating times. He didn't deserve so many wily consequences and painful penalties for his breath in the air. Zane had confessed his love to her tonight. He had done so with her wrapped in his arms under the moonlight, for everyone to watch the reunited lovers rejoice. Warmth had been in Rikku's mind at the sight of his brother, alive, and with someone he loved. But now to realize that the love was not _returned? _Oh, blessed be, his heart would've stilled if he had one! How could he go on knowing that there was nothing but emptiness inside of his sister's equipment?

Ming was equally as astonished. "WHY NOT?!" She shrieked. "CAROLYNE! OHMYGOD! HOW CAN YOU?! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?! YOU'RE MENTAL, I TELL YOU, MENTAL!"

"I just don't!" Caroline hollered under Ming's yowls. "Lay off!"

"But it's _Zane!" _Ming cried. "He's so _pretty!" _

Rikku frowned at her. "I beg your pardon?"

Ming turned to him with her over-accentuated eyes. "He's Zane, are you kidding me? He's adorable, and loveable, and squishy, and hot, and _how can you just not like him anymore?" _The Chinese girl smacked Caroline hard on the arm, oblivious to Rikku's mortification. "You twit! There's so much wrong with you! Oh, you fool! _Anata ga suu, _Carolyne! _Anata ga suu!" _

"If you think he's so awesome, _you _go date him!" Caroline pushed Ming away from her.

"No! He's Zane! I'm Ming! Not happening!"

"So _quit gushing all over him," _Caroline's voice dropped to a quick, harsh hiss. "I want to hear nothing _about _him, nothing _involving _him, nothing that even has his _name _in it. I _hate _him. I won't _listen." _

Rikku stared at her in shock. Silence poured out the air with heavy, quick drops of poison, infecting him in every place possible to infect with those words. Ming did not recover as quickly as perceived last time, but her mouth opened and closed in attempt to speak. Caroline returned to her forehead against the window to ignore their presence.

How could Caroline come so quickly to hate when all Zane had shown was love? He didn't understand what had become of the couple he once smiled at when he saw embracing each other in the fields when they were supposed to be completing their work. Zane had never hurt her, never done anything to force on her a greater evil that meant more to death/hate than it had to remorseful love. He would never attempt such indiscretions to the one girl he had ever fallen for. It was impossible to fall so quickly from something to eternal. But yet he sought it now, knowing truth behind Caroline's words. She really loved him no longer.

"YOUR STOP IS ALMOST ARRIVING," announced a voice over the intercom, stirring the silence above the droids. They barely heard it over their bewilderment. And it cast an awkward aura around them. "HIS HIGHNESS IS WAITING FOR YOU."

"His…highness?" repeated Ming. Her voice was hoarse. "Who are we meeting? Your Prince Charming?"

Caroline sighed angrily. "It took me a long time to do this, and now that the time has come, I'm not going to have you screwing everything up."

Rikku sensed there was more than met the eye. He leaned forward so he could watch Caroline grab the black case and lift it onto their laps so that all could observe. Rikku's anticipation ate away at his mechanical insides. What was so powerful beneath the lid of this black tomb, hiding what bore his utmost attention? The combination locker hidden beneath the golden handle was accessed by Caroline through leaning over Ming. The Chinese girl sat up straighter to provide room.

The lid popped, but Caroline kept it closed slightly so that she could hide whatever was within. "We're meeting someone who is going to change our lives," she said. "I don't see why hanging out waiting for our death to come is so much fun."

"What are you talking about?" snapped Ming. "'Waiting for our death'?"

"The Green Ninja is gone," Caroline announced loudly. "There is no chance now for Ninjago to be saved from the Greater Evil coming down on us. That's why I've arranged for us to join the winning side. There is no chance the Ninja will win, my siblings. What use is it to hang with those who will sooner or later admit defeat?"

Rikku reared back, aghast. Ming gasped aloud with a horror so igniting it sparked a fire of reality in his eyes. He blinked hard without quite wrapping his head around the events taking place. Caroline wanted them to join the _evil _side. She wanted them to join in with the darkness. How could she? He shook his head to clear it, to prayfully make this out to be some strange dream, but he didn't know how he would be able to manage this. It wasn't computing!

"What I have here will only elevate the time of the Great Battle," she said, stroking the black box's edges. "It will make this much less painful than it really needs to be."

"WHAT. DO. YOU. HAVE?!" Ming shrieked. "I will _not _join you! Ohmygod Caroline you're pure _evil! _Get away from me!"

Caroline ignored her, but met Rikku's eyes pleadingly. Rikku knew within himself that he refused to join her, refused to do it, but something told him he wasn't going to slide out of this without a scratch. He wouldn't abandon his brother or leave him behind with just a whisper of sight before them. Zane _needed _Rikku. And Rikku didn't believe in evil. He believed in _good. _

"You're evil," Ming repeated. She could've cried with the tearless sobs in her voice. "What did you do?! What do you have?"

The black case's lid lifted.

Rikku was hit with a power so furious it almost knocked him out cold.

Resting in the caress of special holders within the box's organs was a tall, hooked scythe, golden and gleaming under the artificial lights. At its side was a long, fine sword of the same color, with a heat rolling off it that warmed Rikku's cheeks. A polished gilded pair of nunchuku placed neatly beside a twin set of shurikens rested near him, but he didn't dare touch one; he felt sick. His breathing was hard to obtain. Ming had the same reaction.

"These are the Golden Weapons," Caroline broadcasted. "I went through a lot of trouble to get these."

"Those are not supposed to exist," Rikku countered with a whisper.

"Oh, but they do," Caroline replied dreamily. "And with them, Eloquim will be able to do _much _better with their masterful powers. Because _he _is the only one who can now possess all four."

Rikku trembled. The power was almost too great. Caroline smiled at the weapons fondly before clasping shut the case, cutting off the source of Rikku's sickness with a sharp slam. He felt dazed and unconscious though he still was able to look around him. She gave a slovenly sigh. "I'm sorry, you two," she said quietly, "but this is for the greater good." She tapped hard on the black wall that divided them from the driver. "Hit it, Pythor!" She yelled. Rikku's head swam. "We have to get to Ninjago City before Hungry Eater gets there."

"Hungry…what?" Ming repeated in a mere whisper.

Caroline smiled like there was nothing wrong. "I nicknamed him that," she beamed. "His actual name is the Great Devourer."

"WHAT?!" Ming shrieked. "You _traitor!" _

Caroline shrugged. "All's fair in love and war!" She laughed, and knocked on the wall again. "Hit that green button for me, will you, Pythor?"

Over the intercom came an accent. "Certainly," said the snake with a hiss. Rikku grabbed for the doorhandle, but it wouldn't budge; he was locked in. He began to panic. What was happening? There was the soft exhale of something from above. His head snapped upward to observe the heaters from above exhaling puffy green tufts of smoke. Rikku pulled harder on the door handle. Oh, no. Oh _no._

"Sorry, guys," Caroline said, "But I can't have you screwing up my plans."

Ming began to cough uncontrollably with the inhale of the green smoke. She grabbed onto Rikku with a gasp. "Hit the…window!" she gasped. Rikku coughed on his own while trying to knock out the glass with his elbow, but he was falling too weak. Ming collapsed against his lap in a closed-eyed coughing fit. He was barely able to whisper her name before he felt himself doing the same, slowly sinking into true unconsciousness under the powerful, _powerful _drugs of the Golden Weapons' vibrations and the green gas' toxic fumes.

It wasn't long before he saw nothing. Nothing at all.

* * *

**PLEASE ANSWER: WHO DO YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT NEXT? A) LLOYD AND SEIKO, B) THE NINJA, OR C) COLE**


	10. Chapter 9: Dreamcatcher

_9. Dreamcatcher_

THE BABY'S FOOT wedged deeper into Nya's womb, causing her to gasp awake suddenly, bolting upwards in a cold sweat. The room was dark, shadows crawling like spiders across her comforter. She clutched the rounded purse of her swollen belly, trying to drown out her aches with her hand touching the spot where she could feel _some_thing touching her from the inside out. Breathing heavily, Nya kicked off her covers, unsure of why her baby wouldn't stop _pushing _so hard against her. It forced her body temperature to rise lethally. The sweat overlapping her forehead started to trail down her nose. Nya doubled over in pain to hold fast to the stomach caressing the child that was now using its own against her. Her lips couldn't contain the harsh cry escaping from her lungs. What was happening to her? Was it really this gruesome to carry a child inside of her? She gave a sharper cry under the persistency of the baby's pounding feet. It wanted _out—_and it wanted out _immediately. _Second after second passing was more adding to the total sum of her pain. She gasped again with no breath to return. This—this _baby—_what was happening to Nya? It shoved against her stomach so hard she could pick out and count each individual fingertip from observation. Oh, God, this creature—this _thing_—it was _killing _her—

"Nya?"

Jay's soothing voice startled her out of her nightmare, shooting her upwards like a rocket propelled from a cannon. Sweat drenched her as though she were dunked in a tank full of it, sticking her clothing and hair to her skin. Slick, Nya trembled so forcibly, her whole cot shaking with the tension of human fear. Had it only been a dream? She looked forward to try and calm her thoughts, rubbing her hand over her stomach, where it remained unpierced by any supernatural baby claws threatening to escape. Her heart started to slow as Nya came to sorts with the idea it had only been a nightmare. A stupid, scary, horrific nightmare.

She turned to him, a pale form in the adjacent bed to hers, heaved upwards in a cocked position. He rested against the comfort of his six million different pillows that almost swallowed him whole. Despite the shroud of darkness parting them, she could see the clear gleam of worry and fear in his eyes. Nya turned away to dig the heels of her dry hands at her eyes so he wouldn't be able to see the tears strolling down her face with his excellent vision. Or…did Jay have good vision? Nya thought about it. She _felt _like it was Jay, but for some reason didn't think that it _was _him who had the good vision. Nya swept it aside under the argument that she was absolutely exhausted, afraid, and hyper all at the same time, a walking balloon of diffidence just waiting to be popped.

Her heart finally returned to normal, but the adrenaline levels fluctuated. Jay leaned forward despite the stitchings in his stomach. "Nya? Baby, what's the matter? Hey, don't cry, sweetheart, don't cry…what's wrong?"

Nya swallowed the lump in her throat, shaking her head vigorously. Dang her for being so emotional. Hadn't she cried enough tonight at the sight of her brother? Shouldn't she be sucked dry of her tears by now? After all, nothing could quite compete with the sight of your lost adopted brother returning from the dead to yank your tears out your sockets. Nya had never been able to get enough of Kai. On initial discovery, she hadn't let him go for what felt like an eternity. It had been hard to grasp that he was actually there, beneath her beating heart, kissing her face repeatedly the way he was. She couldn't believe she was actually holding him, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, smelling that sweet scent that Kai always seemed to carry of defiance, rain, and soap. Kai picked her up, twirled her around, held her face in his hands, and laughed and cried at simultaneous moments when looking at her. He'd laid his forehead on hers and let his happy tears drench his cheeks. "God," he'd kept whispering. "Nya."

Nya groped the sheets now in replacement of her empty hands. She was scared that when she got up in the morning, he wouldn't be there at all. The dream she experienced now had felt so real—who was to say that Kai's reincarnation wouldn't be just as well? She glanced at the separate bed where Jay stared at her in concern.

"Nya?" He whispered again. He held out his arm, beckoning for her to come to him. She gladly kicked off the covers of her terrifying bed and propelled herself into him, pressing her face hard into his chest, where the sobs actually bore now. That dream had been too much for her. The pain had felt all too real for her taste. Nya clung to Jay with the idea that if she held tighter, every invaluable speck of discomfort she fondled would fade away into ash. Jay pressed his lips into her hair. There, he leaned back, pulling Nya into a laying position in his company, moving the covers so that she could join him underneath their warmth. Jay stroked her cheeks with his thumbs to smack away offending tears.

"Baby," he whispered, pressing his lips to the stray tear wandering down her nose. Nya sniffled, "what's the matter? Are you hurt?"

Nya took in a handful of his shirt. His heart beat slowly against hers, a steady pace. She enjoyed the sensation that the bare skin beneath the material gave her: security. The warmth of his abdomen reminded her that blood still flew, though it was a little stained by his knitted flesh, covered by white bandage so it didn't snag on his shirts. Nya touched the soft curve of where Jay's neck met his shoulder with a satisfied feel. Absentmindedly, she shook her head, denying it yet knowing deep inside she actually did hurt. Nya was torn between few things. One being the fact that this baby would be a new start for her, that this was an excellent chance to propel her life forward, and that she actually _did _want this pink embryo growing within her. But somehow there was also a fear that she didn't want it. What would she do with it? How could she _give birth _when she was only seventeen, and still caught in between a war of good and evil? Nya buried her face into the hollow at the base of Jay's throat.

Jay was excited to be a father. He wanted this. He wanted this baby. They'd discussed it a couple of times though they usually avoided talking about it; they were teenagers who loved each other _so much _but didn't know how to handle a baby. Did she really think bringing a baby into this world was the best idea right now, especially since that would require Nya's undivided attention, something she couldn't do without leaving everything behind, which she wouldn't do anyway? She felt like now would be the perfect time to discuss it, but knew that doing so wouldn't keep her attention or focus very well through her exhaustion.

"I had a nightmare," she admitted quietly. Jay tucked his arms securely around her waist. He stroked her cheek with his nose, sending sparks through her nerves, animating them to life. Nya's hands curled into his hair. They were growing up too fast, but it was at just the right pace that they matured. Jay was becoming more of a man every second that she spent wrapped in his arms. His previous childishness was beginning to fade away from him like the cocoon of a butterfly's transformation. It was beautiful.

Nonetheless, Nya didn't feel very mature. She felt sickly, childish, and underdeveloped. Her, thinking that with him, she could have a baby! Pah! Silly!

But proof was now growing inside of her at the second in which she spoke. Nya curled her hands around Jay's biceps. He was getting stronger, too—strong enough to fend off all evils. He pulled her tightly to him with a dim chuckle. "A nightmare, huh?" He pressed his mouth to her forehead. "Then let me be your dreamcatcher."

He pulled her lips to his. Every fear melted away from her, leaving her raw with love so intense, there was nothing stopping her from knowing that however scared she was, having this baby with him was _exactly _what she was supposed to do.

**KAI**

Okay, instantaneous conclusion: That bed _sucked. _

Kai stepped into the bright morning sunlight, stretching away his sleeping muscles. Zane looked up at him from his bend over the stove, wielding a spatula to his frying pan like the old days. The kitchen on this remake looked so _exactly _like the elder one, it was creepy. He had the overwhelming scent of pancakes and three thousand other foodly scents attack him like a slap in the face. Kai roamed inwards in his T-shirt over his sweatpants, feeling like a really, _really _lazy teenager for once.

Zane smiled pleasantly at him. He was dressed just fine for the day, in jeans and a white shirt, but there was something completely gaping missing from his outfit. Kai gasped in mock horror. "Your apron!" he cried. "It's missing! Oh, man, will your cooking be as good now without your trusty pink protective gear?"

Zane rolled his eyes while Kai laughed. "Chortle all you want, brother," Zane flipped an egg into the form of an omelet in the breast of his pan, sprinkling some green fluff from a bowl at the stoveside atop its yellow glory. Kai ruffled the serious dude's hair as he passed to snag a piece of bacon from the plate prepared on the counter. "But it kept me clean."

Kai chuckled. "I know, buddy," he said, "and that's why I love you best."

"Love who?" Blonde Dani appeared in the doorway with a box of processed batter fluff in her hands. She tucked a golden strand out of her sparkling eyes. Kai didn't know her well, but he knew her enough to understand that she irritated the crap out of Caroline, according to their little verbal contradictory arguments last night. Personally, he liked that, because although he also didn't know Caroline, she gave off an uptight vibe to her. It was kind of really stupid, so Kai just didn't tolerate it. Dani gave him a smile while frolicking into the kitchen in a pair of ripped up jeans and a baggy sweatshirt. Very ballsy of her to do, to wear such unattractive robes amongst men. He purposefully gave her a long look to agitate her, which earned him a mocking, pointed glare. Kai winked at her knowing that she was a female activist (this was something they'd had a conversation about last night) and hated anything that involved indiscretions due to sex. She punched him hard.

"Zane," he announced loudly in reply. Dani blinked an eye at him. Zane continued to roll his eyes at Kai's cheerful idiocy. He enthused jokingly, "He's my lover. We're _extremely close." _He twisted his middle and forefinger around each other to indicate their inseparable bond. Then he hooked his arm around Zane's shoulders and waggled his eyebrows at Dani. She frowned.

Zane smacked him away. "That is _not_ happening in any form of any future of mine," he countered. He flipped another omelet with that greasy spatula of his. Come to think of it, Kai missed a close call with having that thing come to contact with his face just now. "But if that is what you wish to do with your love life, then be my guest."

Dani laughed so hard she snorted. Kai was taken aback at the discovery of a nindroid being capable of snorting. He actually didn't even loop those kind of inhumane, weird actions with programmed peoples, but it was nice to see humanity. She grabbed something out of a cupboard Kai had once known to hold multiple spices which now had…a random jar of peanut butter in it. She plucked out the full tub and grabbed a spoon from the drawer beneath. Kai raised a dark brow. "Yum," he said, but it sounded like a question.

"It's not for me, you dunderhead," she waved the kitchen utensil at him like a sword. Kai stepped back with a laugh and held up his palms to show his defenselessness. "It's for Nya. She's not feeling well today, so I treat her with the exaggerated ways of peanut butter's charms."

"Why peanut butter? She hates peanut butter." Kai leaned his waist against the counter. Zane passed him a knife and a can of jelly, which he was now supposed to use to decorate the toast preparing to pop out of the heated bread maker. He stabbed the purple substance with the butter knife and began to work.

Dani paused in the kitchen doorway. "Peanut butter is what she requested," she said to Kai. "And plus, peanut butter solves everyone's problems."

"I thought that was chocolate."

"Did you know two in every four people is obese because of excessive chocolate consumption?" Dani stared at him with half-lidded eyes. Kai cocked his head while working on spreading jelly across his current bread piece's surface. "That sounds to me like it's creating more problems than it is deleting them."

"Well she's going to get fat anyway. Why not live it up?" Zane smacked his arm in response. Kai shrugged defensively. "What? It's not my fault she got pregnant."

Just saying it sent weird shivers up his spine. Nya being pregnant was one of the weirdest things he'd ever even thought of. He'd never looked at her as being a girl who would want to have a baby so soon in her life, to take on such a huge responsibility—especially with danger lurking at every corner. But Kai had vowed since his rebirth that it was _Nya's _choice, and he wouldn't prowl through her business anymore, regardless of what choices she made. Unless it resulted in something that could potentially end fatally or badly, like over consumption of canned air-pressure goods. He decided to lay off of his loveable sister and Jay with no intention of close monitoring them. Believe him, it was extremely difficult, but gratifying to know he wasn't destroying a love. If Nya wanted to get pregnant, he'd support her with a smile the whole journey down the tedious road. He wouldn't stop her from living her life. Not anymore would he be so constricting.

"Tell Jay to come for breakfast, please, Dani," Zane politely requested, turning off the stove. He revolved towards his stack of pancakes and pile of omelets, log cabins of bacon, and the toast that Kai was in the process of making. Dani gave a militaristic solute with her hand.

"Oh, and get Cole!" Kai called to her on her journey down the hall. After Dani hollered back a muffled noise of acknowledgement, Zane turned to Kai with a ponderable inquisition.

"Would Cole still technically need human food to survive?" He asked. "Or would that just be something he can consume without actually needing to?"

Whoa. Good question. "Ask him," Kai responded, setting down another piece of toast for Zane to intricately fold and stack. Cole hadn't made a sound when Kai left the room this morning to brush his teeth and shower away every last vengeful memory of death he had left to scrub down. It had almost been like he wasn't even there. He finished off the last of the toasting and helped Zane set the table; today, he had an agenda planned for himself, and he wasn't about to let anything ruin his good mood.

Kai premeditated the basic notion on telling his brothers and other friends about what he and Zane knew, which also included the fact that Lloyd was stuck in hell with no means of escape. That was his top priority today, over venturing outwards of the _Bounty 2's _worn wooden walls to observe the small town of the Fireman's Circle to see if there was any news of Eloquim in any part of Ninjago. He had a plan to speak privately with Garmadon and Wu about, but for now, he'd have to settle for patience instead. Sensei Wu was meditating, according to Dani, the apparent eyes and ears of the ship's showbiz. Garmadon was off doing whatever it was that retired evil Lords did. Everyone else was strangely absent. Oh, well…

There was the sound of Jay's crutches before anyone saw him limp his way into the kitchen. The wound on his stomach was pretty bad. He was fully clothed and treated to a shower—this Kai knew because of his wet hair—but still seemed to have some kind of heaviness involved in his shoulders. Kai gave him an encouraging smile and pulled out a bench for Jay to sit on. The Ninja of Lightning gratefully took a seat. "Thanks," he said quietly. Kai dared to give him a pat on the back but was admittedly surprised when he was caught with a jolt of electricity upon touching him. He leaped back with a yelp. He wasn't expecting it! You can't make fun of him for being caught a _little _off guard.

Jay continued to laugh. That's where, in his gleaming eyes, Kai saw the old Jay seep in—not fully, but he was there, just out of reach. The playful joker still was somewhere within him, resting peacefully in the crook of personality. Kai was never going to force him to bring out that past self, because right now, really all they needed was to be mature and sane. But every once in a while, Kai felt younger, back to his hotheaded past. So much had happened to him that he felt like he was older than dirt now. Kai had practically seen every nook and cranny of existence: All of Ninjago, plus "Heaven", or some would say the Elemental Realm. What more was there to see?

_Hell. _

And he would, if he was going to get Lloyd back. He'd stop at nothing to retrieve him. No matter what he had to do, Kai was determined to get him from whatever cell there was to confine him, and torture whomever had put him there. He'd cut out their tongues and force him to recite their ABC's with blood in their mouth. He'd have dogs eat off their fingers and tell them that if they so much as screamed, more hell would come to pay. He'd tie them to a cross and stab their wrists to have them bleed. He would beat them till not a sliver of pink skin was left on their body. He would—

Kai took in a deep breath. There was that part of him that was just like his father, that really knew he was the Prince of Darkness, and that now he existed again, there would be no telling what would happen. The Great Battle would someday ignite between him and Lloyd. And Kai never, ever wanted Lloyd to have to fight him. The poor thing had already taken so many emotional beatings that what good would it do to destroy him more? If they had to battle, it would ruin Lloyd forever. Kai wished that he could somehow tell Lloyd he was okay, and alive, to give the Green Ninja some hope back. If Kai ever had to fight Lloyd in order to fulfill their destinies…he would let Lloyd win. Willingly.

Jay tried to stop his chuckles, oblivious to the torment inside of Kai's mind. "Was that such a _shock _to where you have to stare into space, all brooding and mysterious?" Zane started laughing after that, too. Kai rolled his eyes.

He waved them off with the return of a smile. _There's my boy, _he thought of his best friend, whom he felt closer to than either Cole or even Zane. There was a connection between the two—maybe it was a mutual love for Nya, or something, but that would imply that Cole was in the equation somewhere too. And to be honest, Kai was still reeling from Cole's deep affections for Nya. It was _definitely _something no one expected. Very…_ironic. _

Still on the subject of Cole, (at least to Kai) Jay glanced around the empty dining room. "Is Cole sleeping in or what?" Jay asked. "Where is he?"

Zane shrugged. "He had a rough day yesterday," he covered for his friend and his extreme use of power to erase memories from two living individuals. Kai nodded. "It drained him—thankfully this is his time to refuel for today."

Jay frowned. "I guess I wouldn't know anything about it," he stated, "but I didn't know he did stuff yesterday. That's strange." He puckered his lips, tending to a stray string of his long-sleeve before engaging in any more conversation. He rubbed his face. "You guys, can I…can I tell you something? Something kind of…personal?"

At the same time, Kai and Zane responded. "Yes," Zane said encouragingly.

"_Nooo," _Kai shook his head. It was meant as sarcasm, but still Zane slapped him in the arm with the spatula. _Yeesh, _somebody's _into physical abuse! _He rubbed the puckering red mark on his arms, nursing it back to health with a grim cast to his glare. He turned back to Jay with a friendly wink. "Go ahead, Sparky."

Jay looked nervous. He cracked his knuckles out of nervous habit, then avoided their eyes, instead looking at the floor rather than at whom he was speaking to. "Well, I…" He scuffed his socked foot to the wood beneath his feet, rubbing his knee. Kai waited patiently. "I think that…um…I think Nya doesn't…"

"Doesn't what?" Zane asked. "You can tell us, Jay."

Funny. They said the same thing to Cole last night. Kai decided to join his best friend on the bench of the dining table, crossing his arms over his chest. He nodded hearteningly for Jay to continue his personal speech.

But the Ninja of Lightning blushed. "I think that um…" He cleared his throat. His next words came out in a rush that Kai had to repeat in his head before he quite understood what Jay had said. "_IthinkNyadoesn'twannahaveababy." _

There was a pause. Jay heaved out his jailed breath and hung his head, placing it in his hands, elbows on his knees. Zane and Kai exchanged a glance. "Why wouldn't she?" Zane stepped forward inquisitively. Jay's shoulders pointed downwards.

"I…" he took a deep breath. "Last night, she had a nightmare," he said softly. "About…you know, the baby. She was talking in her sleep and crying, and she woke me up with it. When I finally got her to wake up, she looked so…Goodness, she looked so scared. So she came to lay next to me…." He blushed, "and I started to talk to her about it…the nightmare, I mean. It took her a while to actually want to say anything about it. But she said the baby was…._hurting _her?" The last part of it came out on a higher note. As Jay's head hung again, Kai was slapped with the realization that he was trying not to cry. "And then," he continued after a moment of gathering his breath, "she was saying how terrible it will be to do it. The pain, the suffering, and having to deal with this for five more months, knowing it gets worse. She started crying more than once. I know she's scared, and I want her to know that I'm always going to be there for her when she needed me, no matter what—which I did tell her—but I don't think it helped. I think she made up her mind, guys. I think she doesn't want to have our baby."

Kai was taken aback. Last night, Nya had rested her hand in a motherly fashion over her bulging, pregnant stomach. She'd seemed pretty content with lugging that thing around for another five months, but had he misread that? He'd always thought that Nya wanted to. But then he realized she was only seventeen to his eighteen. She was still a young girl, not yet a woman. _Oh, Nya…_He was definitely going to visit her in the infirmary today, definitely going to talk to her about it. But right now, he was talking to Jay.

He examined the way Jay looked so forlorn, so ripped apart by the idea, that it made his eyes glisten. _Oh, my goodness,_ Kai thought seriously after a moment as comprehension set in. He'd always believed Jay was going to be a little weary of having a child, willing to back out of it. But the broken look on his face told Kai that "You really want to have the baby, don't you?" He asked.

Jay nodded. "I do," he admitted in a whisper. Zane gave him a sad smile. "I really, really do. I don't want her to kill it with an abortion." The thought of it made Kai shiver. "I mean, you guys…I'm going to be a father. And—and it's weird, but I really want to, you know? I wanna hold my son or daughter in my arms and feel whatever it is that parents feel, and I want to teach my kid how to ride a bike, and how to make sand castles, and the alphabet, and I want to be there for them when they need advice, and hold them when they cry after their first day at school and kiss them on the head and walk them into the doctor's office, and I want to be _so proud _when they don't cry when they get their shots, and when they win an award for being the best oboe player I want to be the one in the crowd standing up and shouting for them with extremely loud clapping. I want to _do _that for them. I don't _want _to wait for the next five years. But if it's hurting Nya _right now…_I have no choice but to wait."

Zane laid a hand on Jay's sagging shoulder. "Brother," he said softly, "I am certain that you will be the best of fathers."

"You'll make a great dad," Kai added helpfully.

"And I know what will tear you apart if she doesn't want to go through with this. But at the same time, it is Nya, whom is stronger than any of us. Perhaps maybe you are misreading her nightmare as something she really feels and not just a fear that all to-be mothers come packaged with. I think talking to her about it will do you good. I don't see Nya chickening out."

"Maybe you're also having second guesses. Maybe you're _thinking _that's what she feels, like any father would, but possibly that's not the case." Kai offered, trying to catch Jay's stationary eye, trained on the floor. "I can't see Nya wanting to get rid of her baby. She's Nya, for crying out loud, I mean she is way tougher than all of us _combined. _You just need to talk to her about it and clear any misconceptions."

"But what if she says she doesn't?" Jay asked. He squeezed his eyes shut. "What if Nya says specifically that _she doesn't want to have this baby_?"

"Then you hogtie her and take her to a rural area where there's no hospitals so she won't be tempted," said a voice. Kai glanced up to see his sister standing in the doorway, one hand on her hip and other caressing the sweet curve of her belly. Jay turned bright red. Zane also looked startled, since he couldn't sense people to appear anymore.

"H-how long have you been standing there?" Jay asked warily. Nya walked across the dining room, unanswering, to grab his hand and tug him to a standing position. She wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest, squeezing him tightly without intention of releasing him. Jay looked confuzzled, but hugged her back, landing a kiss on the top of her low head. Kai smiled.

"I heard your speech," she said softly, tilting her head back to look him in the eye. Jay blushed. "And I thought it was _beautiful." _

Kai didn't think he could get any redder. He leaned back against the table, poising his hands behind his head, observing the scene with his trademark half smile on his face. Zane, also, looked pleasantly attentive, but moved to give them space.

"I want to have this baby," Nya said quietly, brushing Jay's hair from his eyes with a tender hand which caressed his cheek after the action was done. "No matter what, I want all that too."

"Really?" Jay whispered. A new light was dawning on his face.

"Of course," she whispered back, and Kai felt like he was intruding by staring. He looked elsewhere. "I love you, Jay Walker."

"Nya, I—"

"Nope," she whispered. "I just love you. No more than that."

There was a pause, and a sigh of relief. "Then that's all a man could ever need. I love you too, Nya Smith."

Kai felt really awkward. He stood up and, grabbing Zane's shirt, tugged him out of the kitchen where Jay and Nya kissed. For once in forever, he felt no anger at Jay having his hands all over his sister. Instead he was happy for them. Zane and Kai walked down the hallway with the ghosts of smiles on their faces.

"They're happy," Kai concluded obviously.

"It's a miracle, too. Especially with all this emotional stuff happening."

"Lloyd," Kai moaned yearningly. "Poor kid! Zane, I have a plan, but it's risky." He nudged the former nindroid, staring at the floor in vain. The hallways still sucked with their lighting consistencies.

"What have you got?" Zane asked. He glanced Kai in the eye, meeting the dark brown of mischief with the cool ice of his white blues. Kai opened his mouth to tell him of what he wanted to speak with Garmadon and Wu about, but there was a much more urgent thing to tend to. There was a loud _crash _from somewhere in front of them, like glass shattering and wood breaking. The ninja exchanged a glance before taking off down the hallway at the uneasy sound.

Their journeys led them to the balcony which peered over the main deck of the _Bounty 2. _The mast, curled up, overshadowed the darkness that had arrived on the boat. Dani came hurdling out of the downstairs with Sensei Wu and Misako on her heels. They paused atop the main deck as they watched in bewilderment what had happened, a mockery of exactly what Kai and Zane experienced now.

Darreth appeared at their side. "What's the hubaloo?" He asked. Then he saw. "Oh. My."

Zane nodded. "Oh my, indeed."

**COLE**

"GET. OFF. ME!" He howled with a snarl. Kiko continued to clutch tight onto his shirt and pound his shoulders into the ground like a little child would in a tantrum. Her bloody hair fell over her face, shielding him from the sun, as she bore her pointy teeth at him in anger.

"I _created _you," she said for the millionth time. "You are loyal to _me." _

"No!" Cole managed to break free—though he had no freaking clue how—and launch at incredible speeds across the ground. He swerved around the _Bounty 2'_s mast to try and avoid being smacked by another whip of her power. She had followed him here, and really it was Cole's fault for leading her towards everyone, but Cole couldn't do this alone. No matter how strong a vampire he was, Kiko would always be stronger. She was the first vampire ever created. And as she had stated repeatedly over the course of these few couple hours, she wouldn't be the last.

"A vampire can only create one other vampire in their lifetime!" She yelled at him. She chased him around the mast in a game of high-speed, blurry vampire tag. He felt like a little kid, but if she got her hands on him again, he didn't know that he could keep himself from going insane. "I created _you! _The only way I'll ever have _anything _is if I have a child. And you. Will. Give. One. To. Me!"

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" Cole yelled. He ripped a chunk out of the boat's railing and smacked her with it. Kiko's orange robes flew across the deck. No way he was going to do _anything _with Kiko the Crazy. He dove to the side as she regained her balance. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kai and Zane leap over the staircase to assist their brother in war. He took the makeshift stake out of the _Bounty's _railing and swiped Kiko across the head with it. As the Original Vampire, she couldn't be killed with a stake. How lovely.

Kiko howled. She hooked her sharp claws like talons. "You _will _give me a child!" She yelled. It was starting to freak Cole out. He ran to Kai's side as he threw the wooden piece at her, but Kiko ducked, and it flew over the top of her head. With the force behind the object's propulsion, it shattered the glass of the mechanics room window. The noise rang throughout the air like a scream.

"Go. AWAY!" Cole shouted at her. Kiko grinned at him.

"Never," she whispered. "I've found you now, and I'm never giving you up again." She stood in front of them at an angle to watch both the crowd gathered at the staircase and the Ninja at the same time. "You and I are the only vampires, Cole. You've wasted your Turn. All we can do now is procreate! Don't you see? This is the only way to help _Him _move on the world into its better days!"

"He who?" asked Kai. He clenched his fists at Cole's side.

"Eloquim the Deadly," Kiko hissed of her accomplice. Cole crouched down defensively, giving her a snarl that she enjoyed listening to. "This is the way to start the hell that needs to come. Oh, Cole," she held out her hands. God, those disgusting hands in which had clenched life from his mother! He snarled again. "Don't you get it? Don't you want to have a child?"

"Not with you," he growled. He didn't enjoy the subject of children. He stared into her black eyes with a grim hate. "You need to leave and quit wasting your time, Kiko. It's pointless."

Kiko's face turned into a grimace. She clenched her fists. "What was her name again?" She growled lowly. Her body shook with anger. Since Kiko had become a vampire when she was young, she had never quite aged properly. Cole was just glad that he was able to mature better than this creepy woman. "The girl you love, I mean."

She was using it. When they kissed, (something Cole regretted more than anything right now) she had tapped into his thoughts, and she knew everything about him now. Every thought, every action—every day she'd missed with him, Kiko now gained back with her scary powers, like she'd been there all along. She witnessed every battle, every kiss with Nya, every fight with Jay, every plan he'd made. She knew everything. Cole growled defensively. _No one _was going to hurt Nya.

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Kiko smiled. She raised her eyes to a point above Cole's head. "She doesn't love you back. Oh, how sad." Kiko's gaze fixated on whatever was so interesting to look at. He didn't know what, but if he tore his eyes from her devil for one second, he knew she'd do something fatal and stupid. Kai made a noise.

"Keep your disgusting eyes off my sister!" He yelled. Cole felt a jolt in his heart. _Nya? _Oh, man. That meant that she was seeing… All that power he'd used yesterday just went down the drain if she was seeing Kiko reveal everything to the world what he'd made her forget. Then it hit him: That was Kiko's _plan._

"You _bitch!" _Cole hurled himself towards Kiko, knocking her over by surprise. She gave a squeal as she hit the ground, where Cole pressed his weight down on her, trying to force her to comply. He bore his teeth at her, pressing his arm against her throat to cut off her breath. Kiko merely smiled at him. "You keep her _out _of this," he spat in her face. Kiko swallowed.

"Then you come with me," she gasped. "You ditch your Ninja friend, I'll ditch Eloquim, and we'll live happily ever after under the radar."

"Never."

Kiko smiled like that's what she knew he'd say. "Oh, Nya!" She called. Cole froze. "Nya, I think—"

He shoved his arm into her throat, cutting off her voice. Kiko glanced at him amusedly. "Don't you _dare." _What would he do then if Nya witnessed more than just Cole's vampirism? Oh, man, this was bad. This was really, really bad.

"Then _come away with me," _Kiko whispered. "Or I kill every last person here—because I know now what the all look, smell, taste, and sound like, and I could track them down forever. Your choice."

Leave the Ninja to save Nya? Kiko was unkillable, courtesy of the witch who turned her into a vampire in the first place. He couldn't stake her and walk away with no issues to burden him after her death. He had nowhere to lock her up. He had nothing except a choice to make: the whole way here Kiko had chased him, knocking him over, trying to get him to agree to come with him. But now the effects of her reality were slowly sinking in: Now that Kiko knew everything about him, she wouldn't stop until she got her way. She would continue to torture Cole, stay aboard this ship, walk amongst them. She'd hurt someone here that he loved more than anything. She would _do _that without any kind of pain, because she was Kiko. Kiko didn't care about anything but getting her way. She would tear out Kai's eyes if it got Cole to comply. And he knew she'd do just that, too, if he didn't respond properly.

Kai appeared at his side with a sword in hand. He pointed it down towards her head. "You freak," he growled at her. "What happens if I stab you in the head? Do you become stupid then?"

Cole snarled at her. Kiko only smiled and shook her head. "No," she concluded. Kai curled his lip.

"Let's give it a try," he thought aloud. He drug the tip of the blade across Kiko's forehead, drawing a line of blood in her skin. Kiko only blinked but gave a loud laugh.

"That's gonna hurt," she said, almost absentmindedly.

"It'll hurt more when I put this through your face."

"You do that," Kiko laughed, "but it won't be me you'll be hurting."

"Oh yeah?" Kai humored with a scowl. "Who will it hurt then?"

Kiko smiled. She looked like she was enjoying winning. "Easy. Seiko."

**SEIKO**

"YOU'RE GOING TO break your face before you break that door, Goldy Locks," Seiko countered into the darkness, wrapping her arms around her pained torso one more time before expressing her sorrowful shivers. The nighttime of the cell was cool, black, and _horrendously _bottomless. The reverberational pounding of Lloyd's fists and/or helpless attacks of power were doing nothing to that door, judging by the lack of weeping from the metal. Lloyd panted hard into the air. Seiko could sense the vibrations coming from his steps, tearing through the ground, before floating into her skin. It was weird. She could _sense _him coming, feeling his footsteps pounding into the ground closer than she could actually hear him. But whatever. Seiko itched her arm. This, she decided, was stupid.

"I'm not using my face to hit it," he countered. Seiko rolled her eyes.

"That's the _point, _dummy," she grumbled. "You'll break your face, which YOU'RE NOT EVEN USING, before you get that door down."

"OKAY," Lloyd responded with equal emphasis. His boots dragged across the floor, stirring stationary chunks of bone and dirt into movement. Even the slightest granule's offset, and Seiko could sense the vibration. She hugged her knees to her small chest. She was bored, starving, thirsty, and dying, but mostly bored. There weren't any kind of Sudoku's or Jenga's to entertain herself with, not that building log cabins out of wooden blocks was any fun. Seiko wished she could stand to her feet.

There was a whoosh of heat. It stirred her hair back from her face, but she remained unfazed. "Whatcha doin', Twinkies?" She asked, picking at an unseen fray on her sleeve. The floor vibrated with another elemental based attack.

"I'm trying to burn down the door."

"How's that going for ya?" Seiko's bangs hovered over her face—she could feel the ends tickling her nose. She wiggled it uncomfortably. She blinked into the black. She sniffed. She sighed. She sneezed.

GOD, she was so bored, she was narrating herself.

Lloyd made a noise of what was _almost _irritation, but didn't quite make it to emotional. "Awesome," he muttered. His footsteps made sensual tremors in the floor's surface. Seiko pressed her palms flat to the ground to feel more of it—it provided her with a mental _picture _of where Lloyd was. It also told her how long, wide, and empty their ludicrous cell was, how tall the door stood, how many bullets rested in its iron grip. She was startled to find she had a relatively _clear _picture. It was definitely strange, but she had to admit, pretty handy. Seiko took a huge chunk of animal carcass in her hands, avoiding the grossness of it, and tested with this mental picture. She used the sight of her mind to tell her exactly what position Lloyd fell to when his next attack (which she could _not _visualize) so she could hurl the dead mouse through the open space. Cole had always told her she was a pretty good thrower. There was the soft stir of air with her weak toss, followed by a satisfactory _smack, _and a responsive squeak from Lloyd as the mouse hit him in the side of the face. He made a disgusted noise as he wiped his cheek with his gloved palm. _Whoa, _Seiko thought proudly. She'd used the mental picture from the vibrations in the air to see where Lloyd was! How cool was _that? _

"UGH," Lloyd spluttered. He coughed with following noises of antipathy. "GROSS! This random dead thing just totally hit me in the—you threw that, didn't you?"

Seiko giggled. "Mayyybeee," she tried to contain her laughter, but it boiled out her mouth in a tinkling laugh. Her laughter echoed throughout the cave's small, bouncy walls, and it made Lloyd start to laugh too, despite the fact that she totally just chucked a dead animal at him. Seiko felt her mood brighten at the sound of him laughing with her. It gave her something to do other than sit here and stare at the darkness for another gazillion hours.

But her laughter quickly turned to pain. Her forehead felt like it was burning. She gave a sharp noise that alerted Lloyd that something was dangerously wrong. She lifted her hand to touch the cool skin of her forehead, and it was warm, and sticky, and wet. She pulled her hand away to reveal a trickle running down her nose and into her unseeing eyes. She gasped. Upon smelling the substance on her fingertips, Seiko realized that it was _blood. _

"Seiko?" Lloyd's footsteps vibrated him towards her, and soon he was there in front of her—or so her senses told her, as did his grip when he pulled her to her feet. "Seiko! You're bleeding! What did you do?"

He pressed his glove to her forehead, trying to stop the bleeding through the application of pressure. Seiko's forehead pounded. She didn't deal well with blood when she wasn't in her destructive moods, and she found herself getting queasy. Oh, heaven, help her now! She held on tight to Lloyd's waist in controlling her breathing. "Lloyd, what's happening? I laughed! Oh, this is what I get for being happy!"

"That's a long cut," he told her, pressing his heel further into her forehead. It felt funny against the trickle of her own blood down her face.

"How do you know?"

"I can see it."

"You can _see _it?" Seiko gasped. How could he see? "How can you _see, _Twinkies?" Seiko spoke her thoughts. "I've been robbed!"

"Seiko," he said in a careful tone of voice, "Don't freak out, but I think there's something wrong with your eyes."

"Don't blame me for having bad eyesight!" She gasped, almost to hysterics. She held onto him tightly. Wow, who knew random forehead cuts hurt so badly? She tried to think of what caused it but came through empty handed.

"No, Seiko," Lloyd's free arm wrapped around her waist. She felt her heart quicken at his touch, and that he'd just pulled her closer to him. Not that she cared, or anything. Seiko Mitsuhide didn't care about anything but survival. She braced her hands against his chest to try and push him away, but found that her hands refused to do so. She didn't _want _to be pushed away from him. Her mind screamed at her to move, but her body wanted to stay. It was so conflicting. "I mean that I don't think your eyes want to, um, _see _anymore."

"How do you know?" She spat defensively. She was rethinking pushing him away now.

"Because," his voice was soft, soothing; he was comforting her with his voice. She felt calmed, for some really stupid reason, by his voice. Her heart thundered. "My hand right now is glowing and you're not seeing any of it."

**COLE**

"LEAVE SEIKO THE hell alone!" Cole grabbed Kiko and threw her, chucking her into the air with his strength. Kiko enjoyed being airborne, and landed neatly on her feet a good distance away from them. She poised her hands to her hips.

"Why would I?" She drummed her fingers against her lips. "She's so much fun to mess with, it would be a shame to stop playing—unless you're suggesting that you're going to give up and come with me?" Kiko pursed her lips playfully, giving him a sympathetic look. "Come on, Cole. To save your sister and your friends, give it up."

Cole clenched his fists. He was so angry he couldn't bear to even think straight. He glared roughly at Kiko, his eyes digging cold slices into her with the whips of power he released. Kiko seemed unfazed at his attempts to hurt her using supernatural abilities. She poised her slippered feet against the floor with a smile that told Cole that she knew just how to mess with him. "I promised you that night that I wouldn't ever touch your sister," she foretold, raising her chin. Cole felt his anger bubbling up within him, about to broil over. "And I never did. But I telepathically connected us so that whatever harm came to me also came to her. I was preparing for this day, love," Kiko used her hands to motion to the magnificence of this day. "Because I knew it would come. Everything that happened to me _also _happened to her."

The connections were slowly combining in his mind. _Everything that happened to Kiko also happened to Seiko. _He thought about the beautiful, charismatic young girl that Seiko used to be before Kiko had interfered with their life. She'd been happy, loving, a sparkling little girl. But when Kiko appeared it made Seiko start to change. She was no longer that girl anymore. She had become…insane.

_"YOU!" _Cole screamed, and he hurled himself at Kiko. He bowled her over, his back hitting the ground as they rolled, jaws snapping, snarling, and venom flying. Kiko dug her nails into his shoulders, but he pinned her against the deck again, snarling into her face. His fangs extended, his face cracking into his vampiric self. Cole dug his nails into her arms—but then he remembered that in the process, he was hurting Seiko. _I'm so sorry, _he thought, and retracted his digging nails, but kept his fangs out to scare Kiko. "You did that to her," he gasped into Kiko's face.

And she _smiled. _"I did," she admitted without remorse, knowing exactly what he was talking about. His anger broiled over.

"I'm going to _kill you," _he snarled angrily, and dove for her throat.

But he never made it there. Kai appeared and grabbed his shoulders, yanking him backwards. Zane latched Cole's arms behind his back so Cole wouldn't be able to attack, but he continued to struggle, promising he'd kill Kiko no matter what it took. Kai stepped in front of his brother and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Cole!" he shouted over Cole's animalistic noises. "COLE! Calm. DOWN!" Cole snarled a real snarl at Kiko over Kai's shoulder. She stood to her feet, dusting off her long orange dress, with a content smile on her face. That insane _bitch! _

"Cole!" Zane yelled in Cole's ear. "Remember she's attached to Seiko, your sister! If you kill her, you will kill Seiko!"

Cole froze. _Seiko, _his joy. He felt the fires within him begin to die. His fangs slowly retracted, the veins in his face began to fade from visibility. Oh, Seiko…

Kiko apprehended him through slit eyes. She could have purred. Kai tapped him in the cheek to gain his attention. "Look at me," he commanded. Cole glanced into Kai's reassuring brown eyes. "Hey, hey, at _me," _he added when Cole looked back at Kiko. He averted his eyes again. Kai held Cole's face in his hands to help him regain control. "Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Let's think rationally. You're okay. Calm down."

Something about Kai's speech made Cole realize that he was right. But there was still a war going on, still a choice to make. If Cole didn't follow Kiko into their abandonment, then she would attack his loved ones. And he didn't know if he could suffer that.

Kiko knew this was going on in his mind. She waited patiently against the railing for his verdict, but Cole didn't know what to do. He felt a hand on his shoulder that didn't belong to Kai, or Zane, but to a familiar old man with a long white beard and clear blue eyes. Kai stepped back to allow Sensei Wu into view. Zane wasn't prepared to release Cole just yet—he didn't know if he could stop himself if he was let go—but Sensei Wu touched Cole's shoulder. There was wisdom in the old man's eyes. "My student," he said lightly, "there are many choices we must make in life. Many of them revolve around our loved ones. Some of them are for our better person. There are tough ones, and three are easy ones. But no matter what happens, know we will always be with you."

Cole shivered. "What do I do, Sensei?" he whispered, seeking guidance from the old man.

Wu leaned forward, placing his hand on Cole's shoulder. Warmth vibrated from his false skin through Cole's shirt. The wrinkles on his face were so precise, so fine, so realistic, that there was hardly a difference from the dead man to the robot recreation standing in front of him. Cole was surprised with Julien's intricacy.

Sensei looked empathetic of his torn student. He blinked solemnly. "If it were me, Cole," he said softly, "I would do just as you perhaps wouldn't."

"What does that mean?" he whispered.

"It means," Sensei gave him a happy smile, "I would tell her to take a hike."

* * *

**If you were Cole, what would YOU do? Risk the safety of your friends instead of hanging for eternity with a crazy Original Vampire, or would you go with her so they would never get hurt under your hand?**


	11. Chapter 10: Sakura's Leaves Fall Down

**_UGHHHHH _****my lil' sis Emiko keeps jacking the computer for her Ninjago Fanfic ("Darkness before Dawn" to those who are outrageously interested) so I'm like desperate to write and then she's already hogging it… X( But I managed to knock her out so I could use it tonight! (Not really. I wouldn't do that.) **

_10. Sakura's Leaves Fall Down_

_OH, BY HEAVEN and light, _Seiko thought, feeling the warmth of Lloyd's hand's heel pressed against the fatal wound of her torn skin. "Hold still," he commanded lightly, maneuvering his gentle hands across her back, fingers flitting like impatient butterflies against the dirtied material of her shirt. Seiko was still reeling. Her mind was probably the sole pulse behind her blood's flow; after all, she didn't know exactly what she was supposed to think. How did one deal with the news that they were blind? At least that's basically what Lloyd had just dared utter to her. She blinked her lids over her unseeing eyes, unsure of how to approach such a filthy subject. How _did _one accept it? Or maybe this was some kind of sick joke that the stupid Green Ninja was playing on the poor fifteen year old; that had to be exactly what was happening here. Seiko's hands found the firmness of Lloyd's toned abdomen, and she shoved him off, doing what she always did when she didn't understand precarious things. She didn't want him around anymore.

"Get," she instructed, throwing her arm blindly through the air to gesture that he get lost. "Go on. Shoo, Goldy Locks!"

"Seiko, I know a way to help."

"_Sure _you do," she growled. She kept using her hands to find her way around. Blood, without the dam of Lloyd's glove, found its trail skimming down her nose, drizzling across her skin. At the mental image of it, Seiko felt sick. She and blood was not a match made in the virtuous heaven. Her fingers touched the coarse brick of the wall, feeling her finger-nail-less fingertip skim the chipped surface. Was it true? Seiko held her hand as close to her face as she possibly could, daring to capture the attention of her blank looks, but there wasn't anything to see. Underneath her feet, she could literally _feel _Lloyd's steps, although more with a sense inside of her head rather than a physical understanding of the vibrations his movements made. She scrambled to find her way closer to the corner where she could cower. It couldn't be true. It could _not _be true. Seiko repeated to herself this as it became a hymn in her mind. _No. _It wasn't true.

"Why do you push me away?" Lloyd questioned while Seiko tried to find some kind of escape. Oh, how miserable it was not to see! She heard the grumbling agitation in his voice. "All I want to do is help!"

"_I. Don't. Want. Your. Help."_ She grabbed onto a chunk of the wall, hauling herself closer to where her front half actually skimmed the bleeding walls. The cold made her shiver. "I don't _need _your help. Now, go away."

Lloyd sighed. "I can't. I'm stuck here too."

"Then leave me be!"

Seiko sensed him draw nearer. Was this strange sixth sense a result of her lack of ability to see? She questioned this while drifting towards the corner of her enclave, finally sliding down the wall to draw herself into the wall like she could somehow disappear inside of its cool bricks. Seiko wanted Cole. She wanted to feel his security, to be happy with the idea that she could be near him, but found this miserable reality instead—she was blind and currently bleeding through a strange cut to her skin. Worst of all, Seiko was stuck with a stranger, and a ratty Green Ninja at that; she wanted to be so tentative of him, wanted to bite at him with the snap of her pointed tongue until he felt the whiplash of her hate, but for some reason Seiko couldn't muster the violence to her command. Even now, while recoiling from him, this was something small compared to what she really could have and _should _have been performing on him. Seiko normally would've clawed out his eyes by now. But something stopped her.

Was it that she respected him for saving her life, both in the Temple and when defeating that strange dragon that took over the city? Or was it something more—the something that made her shiver at his touch, made her sigh with the scent of him?

Seiko groaned. No. It was that she respected him, not that she could've cared less about him. He was an authority figure, one she could actually come to admire, although she couldn't promise that was a long lasting habit she could eventually develop. But for now, she might as well keep him at a safe distance from herself. "Stay back," she warned him upon sensing his shifty closeness. "I can and will kill you if you dare touch me."

For some reason, Seiko sensed that he was shaking his head in disbelief. "Are you always so rude?" He asked criticizingly. "I mean, really. This whole time you've been extremely mean and cutting and vicious. What's the matter with you?"

Seiko buried her face in her arms. "I've learned," she said flatly.

"Oh, _have _you?" Lloyd's tone edged. He sounded sarcastic, and annoyed.

"_Yes, _I have, Goldy," she snapped. "I've learned that when you _trust, _you're vulnerable. And when you're vulnerable, you're the first one to go down. I'm not going to be the girl who gets shot down. Not this time."

"Who's aiming the gun?" Lloyd asked, sort of incredulously. Seiko's eyes focused on nothing, but it seemed like she saw the visual vibrations roll off his arms as they rose into the air and flop back to his sides indignantly. "'Cause I'm not."

Seiko scowled. Blood drizzled down her face. It dropped buoyantly into her eyes, to where she had to blink repeatedly with the scrub of her fingers to them to try and flush out the red liquid with tears. "I don't care who's pointing it," she said defensively. "All I know is that I don't need anybody. I don't need you. I don't need any friends, or any help, from _anyone. _So. There. I can take care of myself."

Lloyd's boots scuffed against the floor. Seiko sensed he was turning away. "Fine. Whatever." He went back to sounding empty, emotionless. For some stupid reason, Seiko's heart plunged with the lack of sound in his voice other than the monotonic, robotic vibrations he exhibited. "You just go ahead and let your pride leave you all alone, then."

Seiko buried her face into her arms. Her tears fell like the cherry blossom Sakura's leaves did when it was molting time. Cole used to like to take the pink, flowery pieces of nature and stick them in her hair, grinning to call, "Look! It's Princess Seiko!"

Memories enveloped her, as real as the day they were made. "I don't want to be a _princess," _objected the younger Seiko. It sounded like her younger self actually echoed through her brain, bouncing off the walls of her skull like she was real. "I want to be…a ninja!" called the laughing Seiko. Cole laughed in unison. And his voice was _real._

_…_

She could feel the cool grass beneath her feet again, prickly, pressing against her bare skin. She ran across the lawn with her indigo dress flowing behind her. Chasing Cole, as always. Along the rough stone path underneath the eve of the Sakura trees' overhanging branches, her parents walked, her mother's arm laced through her father's, once a happy man before rotten with mold. Their smiles brightened the warm day better than the sun ever could. Cole ran around the fountain, caressing the statue of Clutch Powers in the park, with water pouring out the man's pockets like the money he had. Cole was short, and many years older than she was. Seiko couldn't even name how old she was. The beam of sunlight falling on her bare shoulders warmed her soul, drenching her in cheerfulness, giving her the energy to chase her older brother back towards their parents. Cole was laughing lightly, his voice echoing childishly throughout the air. Their parents stopped to watch them without disturbing the grass, which Cole and Seiko hadn't listened well to. Cole turned to run backwards while watching her, wearing his little suit and tie, wiggling his fingers at her from the company of his outstretched tongue.

"Catch me if you can!" he howled. "And I bet you can't!" He took off in the other direction, speeding past Seiko in those silly, shiny black shoes of his. She stopped to whirl. It was so hard to actually be able to see him. He was way too fast for her. Before she knew it, her brother was balancing on the circular rim of the honorable statue of Clutch. Seiko laughed. "Hey, Seiko, who am I?" He asked while pulling his pockets inside out to mimic the older, gray man in stone behind him, expression perfectly mocking the historical artifact keeper. She heard the tinkle of her mother's light laugh behind her, followed by her father's deep, bowelful one.

"Come down from there, Cole," his mother called. "You could fall in!"

Cole jumped down beside Seiko, who turned to watch her mother in her beautiful maroon skirts watch them with the smile of their father. Cole shook his head. "Ninjas aren't clumsy, Mom!" he reminded her. "They're stealthy!"

Their mother rolled her pretty gray eyes. "Ninjas make mistakes, too, Cole." With her long, elegant fingers as a visor, their mother batted them on with her hand, ordering them silently to continue their imaginary chase through the park's beauteous greens. Their parents found a comfortable brown bench to settle on, established with a name to its backrest, Jordan E. Miko. Seiko's father covered up that name on his lean backwards. Seiko continued to chase Cole, with the sun beginning to set behind the tower of the Sakura trees, casting strange orange and pink rays of halo onto the ground they played in. It felt beautiful.

"Hi," said a tentative voice. Seiko and Cole turned, pausing their game of ninjas, to see a little girl edging his way towards them, another boy behind her. They both looked to be older than Seiko could've mastered at that point, closer to Cole's age than she, but equally as friendly when compared to her brother. The little girl's hair was much shorter than Seiko's, that much she remembered. It was the color of the Sakura's bark. With the siblings' fancy clothing, the Mitsuhide children made the connection that this pair must've came from the same theatre they had come from just minutes ago after viewing the play about singing cat people. A mother and father stood behind the children, whom looked wide awake.

"Hi," Cole said, unafraid of the shy girl or the grimacing boy. Seiko remembered that he had messy hair that was darker than the little girl's, and a narrow way of looking at people through slit black eyes. Seiko immediately hid behind Cole with the boy's involuntary glare.

Seiko and Cole's mother appeared behind them, holding out her long arm with a smile on her face towards the approaching family. "Hello!" She said happily. Seiko peeked around Cole at the strangers while their mother and father introduced themselves to the couple. The boy's gaze remained uncomfortably on her. Seiko pulled at Cole's jacket.

"Why are you hiding?" whispered Cole.

"Scared," whispered Seiko in muted response.

"Why?"

"'Cause," she answered daintily, "that boy look like he wanna eat me!"

Cole laughed, overriding his mother's voice as they told the other couple their children's names. Seiko peered around her brother at her mother's proud face. "Seiko is a little shy sometimes," she told the mom to the opposite family. Her long black hair fell in silk down her back, and blew out of her eyes with the sudden breeze. But Seiko's mother, ever tough, didn't shiver, instead embracing the blast of cool winds. She fended off its chill with another smile.

"Oh, so does my daughter, Nya," said the other mother, putting her hand on her daughter's tow head. "I'm Maralyn, and this is my husband, Joshua, and our son, Kai," she touched the grumpy boy's head with her other hand. Seiko's mother said a friendly hello to Maralyn and Joshua's children, whom the boy, Kai, responded to with a courageous _Hi, Lady _back. The girl, Nya, gave a respectful smile. Seiko darted towards her mother's legs.

"Mommy!" she whispered. Her mother didn't answer, instead saying something very grown-up in some conversation with Kai and Nya's parents. Cole gave his sister a glare. "_Leave her be," _he hissed in a whisper. "Mom's talking."

Seiko found Kai's eyes on her again. She glanced at Cole, but he'd already taken a boastful interest to the other pair. It made Seiko immensely uncomfortable. "We're playing ninjas," Cole told the others. "Wanna play?"

Kai glanced at his mother. "Can we?"

Maralyn smiled. "I don't see why not," she answered. She urged them on with her hands. "Go play!"

Cole took off with a shout of, "I'm the Ninja of Awesomeness!" floating over his shoulder. Kai grabbed his sister's hand and gasped a hurrisome noise to her while he responded with his own shout,

"I'm the Ninja of Superness!"

Nya followed close behind with a loud laugh, with their forms disappearing around the circle of Clutch's overly extensive fountain portraying his social acceptance. Seiko felt a dread in her heart that consumed her heart completely. Other people made Seiko uncomfortable, made her heart twist without her ever being able to understand why. She buried her face into the back of her mother's legs. Until then, the beautiful goddess hadn't noticed that her daughter didn't join the other three screaming children, for she'd been busy having a conversation with the other two parents. After holding up a finger for pause, she bent down with a confused glance at the small, fearsome little girl. She ran her hands over Seiko's head, worry in her big eyes.

"Seiko," she said, "why aren't you playing with the others?"

Seiko was too young to know that you were supposed to lie to make your family worry about you less. Instead, the truth fell out her mouth. "I don't like playing with other people," she said quietly.

"Why not?" prompted her mother.

"Because I'm afraid," Seiko clutched at a silky lock of her mother's hair. Her mother looked startled.

"What of?"

"I don't want them to hurt me," she whispered. Seiko's phobia of other people took her by the hair and yanked at her, dragged her across shattered glass, refusing to let her go. It was never a day in her life had she trusted those who did not exist in her comfortable circle. Strangers were another whom did flutter among those outside of it. With her face come to bury in her mother's shoulder, Seiko didn't want to say anymore, not even after all those questions the woman started to ask. She clung to the comfort of her favorite person, and after a moment her mother did decide it was better not to ask and lift her daughter to her arms instead. That was where Seiko fell asleep after a little bit of silent crying—that was one thing she learned as a proper lesson spanning her lifetime of only few years since birth. Tears made everyone tight, made them wonder, and that was the least of wishes Seiko had. Seiko always fell to sleep better when her mother was gently holding her in her arms, always liked it to have the love of her mother channel through her by contact. The memory sparked a later few words her mother would someday utter to her, an uplifting thought to give her beloved daughter: _There are good people, and there are bad people. We have to be careful who we choose to trust. But ultimately, in the end, if you listen to me, your choice will be rewarding, my daughter, and you'll be glad you chose who you did._ It was a beautiful way to fall asleep…

Seiko's eyes opened. How long had she been out? There was no way to tell, since there was no difference between the backs of her eyelids to the outside world. Her cheeks were damp with tears created by her horrendous dreams. She could feel the dried blood caking her face. Reflexively Seiko reached up to feel the slice that tore her forehead, but was rather startled to find that no such cut existed. Too lazy to sit up, Seiko tried to find it, but it was gone. The only remaining trace was the dried blood surrounding where the cut had been. Where did it go?

Against her will, Seiko reached into the darkness.

"Goldy Locks?"

"What?" She was relieved to hear that he was still there, although he sounded annoyed. For a moment she wondered, groggily, if he'd been asleep.

_You'll be glad you chose who you did…_

Seiko took a deep breath. God, she hoped she wouldn't regret this…"Listen up, because I'm not very fond of apologies," she said, but tried not to make it sound rude. "But I just want you to know that…" Seiko swallowed hard. She imagined she was swallowing her pride. It was difficult to accept. "I'm—I'm sorry for being so mean. I…have my reasons for being the way I am. But put that aside, and I think that really, you don't _deserve _to be treated that way…Now don't go thinking that we're going to be best friends 'like PB and J' or anything, because I'm sure we will not. But I am—I'm glad you're here. And I'm sorry for hurting you."

There was a moment of silence that made her think that Lloyd couldn't have cared less for her meager, strenuous apology. Seiko thought of what her mother would say if she were watching her daughter try to make up for what a demon she'd released, but after a moment of thought, she realized she didn't have a clue what her mother might say. This whole situation probably made her roll around in her grave, six feet underneath the surface of the ground, stone cold with death. She didn't know if her mother would've had the energy to even comment on how Seiko had gotten here. Or if her mother was _proud. _

She was so insecure, it wasn't even funny.

Seiko could feel Lloyd shift in the darkness from somewhere in the corner opposite hers. _He's not gonna answer, _she thought, and leaned back against the wall. Okay. Well. If that was how he was going to do it, she'd just sit back and chill, but know that in her heart she did actually apologize. She wasn't going to repeat herself.

But there was a lift from the air. "I guess I can live with that," Lloyd said, his voice hoarse. Seiko could feel herself smile into the darkness, even though she didn't know why she even cared. _He accepted it. _

"So are we friends or what, Goldy Locks?" she asked blatantly without hesitation, but immediately regretted it. Maybe that was pushing the envelope.

Lloyd shifted in the dark. He gave a chuckle. "Sure," he said, and Seiko's heart began to beat. "How's your head?"

"Um…" Seiko poked her puckering skin. "It's wound-less."

"Good. While you were asleep, I healed you."

Seiko talked before she considered what he said. "You _touched _me in my _sleep?" _She gasped. It took a moment for her to realize that Lloyd had just told her that he had generously healed her, without prompting or begging or asking. It made her wonder _how, _exactly. "Thank you," she sputtered out, trying not to be rude. From this point on, she would try not to be so cruel. _God, this was going to be one of the hardest times of her life…_ "But not for the touching me thing. For healing me."

"I figured as much," Lloyd said. He sounded like he was smirking. Seiko's cheeks warmed. "And you're welcome, by the way."

Seiko was just getting used to the holy thought that she and Lloyd were 'friends.' She wasn't seeking out any kind of best-friend relationship, nor was she delving for anything further past acquaintanceship. Really, Seiko perceived there be no better way to move along the road than to do it with little assistance. Did she really need a friend? No, but then again, Seiko had never had one before. This opened some kind of opportunity door in her future that left her wondering, curious as to drift through its gates to see what lay beyond. Seiko hid her smile from herself by biting her lips together.

Then, there was a loud, shrill sound, one of metal dragging against something. It echoed badly off the empty walls as to where she pressed her hands to her ears to drown out the noise. What was that? The sound of chains rattling made Seiko feel desperate. She couldn't see what was happening, but could sense someone had come to either visit or to be thrown inside this brutal hell with them. Stumbling to her feet, Seiko's heart pounded in her ears, more from fear than anything from the unseen. Seiko heard the squeak of metal on metal and multiple keys clashing in the emptiness.

Sensing Lloyd had come to her side, she reached out, trying to get a sense as to where he was. She found him in front of her. There was the cough of something rid of air, something hacking away with empty lungs. Seiko frowned unsurely. Lloyd made a noise. "Stay back," he whispered.

She was going to say, _I can take care of myself. I don't need you to protect me, _but then thought better of it.

The heavy breathing moved closer. Seiko sensed the dark entity was in the room now; its presence bounced off the walls quicker than someone on large doses of caffeine. Her heart began to pound. Desperately wishing she could see, Seiko urged her senses to extend further, focusing her energy and might onto this entity that was somewhere in the room. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling some kind of freaky change within her, pushing to extend outwards from her body. The supernatural field collided with Lloyd, whom upon meeting she could sense to the fullest. She felt every part of his body, felt the way his heart beat steadily, and the rush of his pulse in his veins. It was breathtaking. She could feel the dainty prick of emotions within his heart, could almost literally _hear _his thoughts, although the words he mentally pictured didn't come out of anything other than pictures. Seiko felt triumphant in her accomplishment and decided to extend her field of whatever it was farther past him.

It collided with the room's walls, with the extended door. Everything she could feel like she was examining it with her individual hands, feeling their rough surfaces actually make impressions on her sensory skin like it would if she were touching it. Seiko's breathing was knocked away with astonishment. She actually couldn't believe she was doing this.

Her field connected with something. And its impact hit her, hard.

Whatever it was, it was full of hate, spite, and revenge. It was some sort of creature, dressed in fine, clean clothes. It stood tall, and within it held an authority, although not as too high as his king. Its intentions were to gather and retrieve the prisoners that his king requested he bring, after which he would send to be cleaned and dressed properly so they looked presentable to the ruler. Whatever this creature was, it knew that the king didn't like it when things looked ragged and disgusting in front of him. It was going to have them eviscerated from all disgusts they'd endured and appear personable to whom had requested: King Noel. Seiko's field recoiled at the very thought of the demon's face flashing through the creature's mind. It snapped back towards her with the force of an elastic band; it actually knocked the breath out of her.

"Go on, get them; the king shan't wait any longer than he has to," said the creature with a snarl. Seiko scowled. There was the sound of clashing armor as more…things entered the den that Seiko and Lloyd were trapped in. "And fight not, prisoners, this is your release from thy tomb, and if thou thinkst it best to quarrel with my guards then thou must be jailed further into thy future."

Seiko snorted at his accent and choice of words. "What's that guy taking, and can I have some?" She asked with a giggle. Lloyd's hand reached up to try and touch Seiko's shoulder as a warning, but somehow in the mix it touched her cheek; his bare fingertips heartened her skin with their warmth. Through their collision, there was a spark of electricity that jolted her worse than real electricity could've. It sent her heart into a frenzy, sent her cheeks flaming. Lloyd had a similar reaction and withdrew his hand.

There was no more time to meander. Seiko sensed more creatures were flooding into the room; she had no time to react, because Lloyd was suddenly crying out, "Let go!" The clash of armor became worse. Trying to reconcile that old field she'd had before, she tried to summon it, but with her desperateness it just disappeared. No sooner did she figure it out, a pair of hands grabbed her arms. Seiko flew into defense mode.

"Hey! Get your dirty paws off me!"

She was vaguely aware she was thrown over somebody's shoulder. Seiko's stomach heaved after being slapped so rudely against a bony shoulder. Kicking with her feet, she struggled with her captor, writhing angrily. "I'll have you eaten by my brother if you don't let me go!" She growled.

"Oh?" the guard carrying her chuckled. "Fast food fan, I take it?"

"NO," Seiko kicked, spitting her hair out of her face. "He's a vampire."

The guard froze momentarily. Seiko writhed to attempt her escape, but she heard Lloyd's voice from somewhere beyond herself, using that strangely calming tone of voice to gently urge her back into sanity. "Don't fight, Seiko," he said softly. "They're taking us out of the cell. Don't fight!"

Seiko didn't want to listen to him. She wanted to tear the guard's eyes out. But she didn't want to be stuck in that god-awful place again, so unwillingly there was death to her tremulous rage. She could never have prepared, however, for what was coming her way even after they took her out of that square hell, something that really _no _person, male or female, should have to experience: their date with pretty little Noel, the "king" of hell.

_Oh, joy, _Seiko thought through deep breathing. _Because the first thing I need is to see some crazy ten year old at the head of a table, bossing me around. I just can't _wait!

And yes. Sarcasm intended.


	12. Chapter 11: The Torture People

**Hey guys, so can I ask you to ****please please please please ****go vote in the poll on my profile page for WHO YOU THINK SHOULD FILL THE 7TH SPOT IN THE NINJA'S CRUSADE? (and to those of you who want to say Nya, she's already one of the seven. Jay, Kai, Cole, Zane, Lloyd, and Nya have already filled those spots) I've given a list of who you guys can pick from, so PLEASE ****PLEASE PLEASE VOTE! I NEED TO KNOW WHO YOU GUYS WANT TO REMAIN GOOD! **

**And to those of you who already voted, you're awesome, and thank you a gajillion times for voting. :D Also, I will be making pictures of Lloyd and Seiko's dinner clothing (as you'll read about in this chapter) so you can visualize them better? (Go have an AWESOME day/night!)**

_11. The Torture People_

GALLONS OF WATER, pints of soap, and one really large bathtub later Lloyd was being fitted with clothing that looked like it belonged to someone important, smelling like a bottle of Kai's _New Man _soap/cologne combo. There were maids that surrounded him by the dozens, only ever moving in residual pairs, wearing what outfits were black dresses—not kept nice and pretty, mind you—with a white apron over the top. Each of them had themselves a pair of red eyes and devilishly pointed ears, with strangely shaped noses. Imagine them how you like, but they acted nothing like the scary savages they were led to portray. Lloyd would say they were decent to be around, but he kind of thought that came from the fact that they poured over him, touching him in ways that was uncomfortable for a kid his age to be touched. At least, he thought that until he remembered that he was seventeen now. These girls didn't know he previously had been a ten year old just last birthday.

On that note, it's probably obvious he was _not _okay with having all these maids look at him when he had nothing on. But they scooped up his outfit from a chair sitting in the corner of the bathroom, a pile of black silk in the girl's arms. She smiled disgracefully while Lloyd was still wrapped in the bubbles of that huge bathtub. It made him blush. She untangled the mess of elegant robes from her arms while holding the pair of pants up for him to see. "You like?" she said, struggling with the earthly words. The pair or "pants" he was given was long, silky, and the perfect shade of black, but he found himself comparing it to Seiko's hair. No, it wasn't the perfect shade of black, because the perfect shade of black would've been, as previously mentioned, Seiko's ebony curtain of hair. This seemed like an…off black, really, but nothing compared to—

_Get it together, Lloyd, _he told himself. _You've got a job to do. _After the ungentle urging of the maids, Lloyd sighed deeply. This was definitely going to be weird. He finally swallowed every ounce of dignity he had left.

He stood up.

And with the maid's hungry looks, he prayed that Seiko was having a better time than he was.

**SEIKO**

THEY PRACTICALLY HAD to hold her down the whole course of the bath. It was so hard to manage when she was being attacked by people's hands, cornered in a place where she could easily be drowned, with people touching her in places she let _no one _touch. Seiko smacked one cleaning lady with such a force, she fell into the bathtub with her, where Seiko shoved her underwater to give her a taste of it. They shaved her legs, her armpits, and even ripped a course at her arms, though that was where the Mitsuhide drew the line. They towed her out of the bathtub and didn't even _give _her the privacy of having a towel wrapped around her, but instead lathered down—literally lathered to the point of a second skin—with lotion that actually smelled nice. Its scent was that related to a cup of cocoa from her mother's special recipe, the kind she'd make her daughter when Seiko needed something to make her feel better.

The cleaning/torture people then began to lace her into something that she didn't like at _all. _It went around her stomach and squeezed in her chest, while also itching her skin worse than wool. Seiko fought with her unseen compressors, but they insisted that what the king requested must be done, and after repeating that a million times, she was just exhausted of hearing such a stupid excuse to flow from these people's lips to argue anymore. From there, she felt them begin to slip her into a dress that she couldn't see, fitting it snugly over her body. If she hadn't had that constricting…whaddyacallit… _Corset _strapping in her lungs, organs, and just about everything else within her body, the dress never would've fit. The torture people—she decided that they didn't deserve such an innocent name as "cleaning people"—started to play with her hair, and some started playing with her eyes by attaching what Seiko assumed was makeup to her skin, but after fighting with her for so long, the demand for eyeshadow no longer existed. They played with her cheeks instead.

A jewelry clerk-tress began to slip different rings onto her fingers in attempt to find which one matched her outfit best. She made plenty of noises of approval, but once the biggest sigh of contempt released, she held out Seiko's hand against the wrench of the owner against it for all to admire. "Pret-ty," commented a maid in stressed, bad human words. Seiko rolled her eyes.

"But what dis?" one commented. They flipped her hand over. Simultaneous gasps revolted against Seiko's psyche until she realized what they were staring at. She exclaimed, "Don't touch that!"

Too late, small fingertips traced the horizontal scar patterns across her wrist.

**LLOYD**

"You look _handsome, _Sir Garmadon," giggled one of the blonde maids with the red eyes, peeking at him from beneath her lashes. Lloyd shifted on his feet without the capability to somehow stop himself from blushing. He looked down at the elegant black satin robes prepared for him to wear, already properly applied by the seven hundred maids gathered to ready him, although he doubted he needed more than two. The top half of his robes were so long, they looked like a dress on him, rolling down his body in sophisticated waves in shades of black. It made his eyes and golden hair stand out, with the sliver of skin shown of his chest, in the triangle where the two halves of his robe connected. What, six maids had already touched that bare skin now? Lloyd gently batted away the seventh. It appeared these little things—definitely creatures sprung from hell rather than individual beings of mortalism—were drawn to men. This was obvious when the stout, royally dressed creature in which had retrieved them swung the door to his chambers wide, and all the maids flocked to him with dreamy gasps and comments in a tongue that Lloyd wished he couldn't understand. The little man, whose skin was of a gray shade and belly round as a pot, with bushy brown eyebrows hovering above beady red eyes, seemed flattered by them. Eventually, he learned to shove aside the creepy words to look into Lloyd's eye.

"Thou!" he said loudly. "Thou must attend thy King's dinner with grace and digestion, for thy King speaks of holy release in which thou must be grateful to!"

_Grace and…digestion? _Lloyd nodded with a respectful bow, earning a look of approval from the little man. His black clothes stretched over his fat stomach. It bulged worse, like Lloyd's gaze added ten pounds for every second he spared staring at it. The fat nosed man beckoned to the large door of the room—which was basically empty except for a random cot and that huge bathtub, so he couldn't really describe it other than a dark-walled room. "Come thou, then," said the tiny voice of the fat man. He only reached Lloyd's waist.

The hallway was better decorated than the room they left the greedy maids in. The walls were painted a silver, with gold trim to every large doorway; a long carpet the color of blood rolled as far as Lloyd's eye could see down the tremendous corridor. Each door was the color black, made not of wood but some shiny surface in which jewels were driven into. Chandeliers made similarly of dangling bones and diamonds hung every ten feet apart on the high ceiling, embracing the passage with dark shadows and illumination. There weren't any wall hangings, no family photos, no random candles. Door after door after door was smacked upon the walls. Everything looked the same.

Lloyd followed the wobbling man in pianist's clothes down the hallway. "Thy King hast requested to see thy face," he conversed. His voice was high pitched, like his nose was squeezed as he spoke. "Thou father ist named that of Garmadon, is it not?"

"Er, yes," Lloyd answered after a pause to decipher what in the heck had just happened.

The little man with gray skin nodded quickly. "Of course. Sir Garmadon was thy King's tutor before he hath disappeared—which, appears, he has spoken truth of his child he once only dreamed of seeing! I wish the best of lucks to your father, wherever he resides," the little man grunted. Lloyd scrounged up something to say.

"I'm sure he's doing fine, wherever he is," he said, hoping that it was true. The little man led the way further down the corridor before taking a left down a hallway Lloyd never would've noticed, jammed between two rooms, had the creature not pointed it out. He scampered to follow close behind into a hallway that looked exactly as the other had before, except the color scheme was slightly different. The carpet along the floor was silver, the walls were gold, and the trims over the doors were red. Lloyd wondered if the palace's designers had any idea what color collaboration was.

"Ah, there thy mistress," said the fat man. Lloyd glanced down at him. "Thy King hast requested to see her urgently."

"See who…?" Lloyd followed the line of vision where the stout thing looked to, and found what he'd previously known as a dirtied, forlorn creature to become a magnificent, glowing beauty. She stepped out of the doorway under tug of a maid, digging in her feet to try and stop herself from behind dragged away to wherever she was going. Lloyd had seen Nya countless times being dressed in something really pretty—though admitting that would only end in some kind of something from Kai's fist to his face—but never once had he seen a dress that configured someone so perfectly, it knocked the breath out of him. Seiko's dress was the most amazing shade of deep burgundy he'd ever seen, the kind of dress that was short in the front and longer as it reached towards the end of the train, revealing her long, attractive white legs. Black, kick-ass combat boots were underneath, making her look like she could knock him out with just one hit to the stomach. Only half her hair was pulled away from her face, leaving the lower section down, and falling over her barren shoulders. He could actually see _both _of her eyes, and though a shade of translucent gray-blue, they were sparkling with mischief. There were no straps to her dress, but instead the neckline was created in a shape that looked like mini crescent moons stuck up in a fiery formation, two separate sides creating a heart-like shape to reveal where her heart was. That sliver of bare skin sent his heart racing. Her hands were covered in lacy black gloves that were missing the fingers in them, reaching past her wrists. Seiko's body was completely defined by the dress she wore…and even though he didn't know her completely and totally yet—and from what he did know, it was that she needed to be helped with some anger issues—Lloyd had a distant thought in his mind that he wanted to know her _better. _

Her head turned towards him, though her eyes didn't rest on him. Lloyd swallowed. "Is that you, Goldy Locks?" she called, and he had to give a smirk. It was pretty hard for her to actually call him by his name. Opening his mouth, he found that his throat was dry. He cleared it.

"Yeah, it's me."

Seiko gave a half smirk. She poised her hands to her lips, and Lloyd found himself thinking, _Oh, God, don't do that…_The way she did it made her look so…He wanted to smack himself for thinking this way. What was he _doing? _Did he need to remind himself that girls had cooties?

"Well? How do I look?" She asked, twirling for him. Lloyd wrenched his eyes away with a hard swallow. "I can't really see myself, so you're going to have to tell me how completely terrible I look."

"Um…" Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck. Seiko's expression narrowed.

"What?" She asked skeptically. "What's that for?"

Lloyd tried to think of a better way to say it. "Well, you don't look terrible," he said, finding that his voice didn't come out right. He cleared his throat again. "You actually look…pretty."

Seiko stared towards him a moment, her eyes resting on his chest, unseeing. He wondered what was going through her mind at the realization that she was blind. She seemed so cool, calm, and collected about it; what did they do, inject her with something? He was surprised she wasn't tearing out his throat right about now with the angry vengeance of a spider monkey. He felt a blush creep across his cheeks, and even though she couldn't see him, he looked away.

A smirk fell to her lips. "You think I look pretty?" she asked. It was supposed to come out as a jive, but it sounded more like an honest question.

"Oh, um, well…I guess," Lloyd said uncomfortably. He wasn't actually too experienced in the girl department, as you can probably tell. He waited for her to start laughing at him, but there wasn't any of that, only the brief smile. It didn't linger long enough for Lloyd to make the connection that it was mocking or real. The fat man waved at them to get walking.

"Thy must pick up thy pace, or thou wilt suffer the King's anger at thy feast."

Seiko started following the sound of his voice, although her walking was a little off. Lloyd watched her for a few amused, enjoyable moments while she tried to make her footing work. The little man's distance between them grew longer and tedious with the fact that Lloyd stayed behind to match Seiko's pace. God, it had to be hard, not being able to see; he couldn't imagine how painful it had to be to her…

…Or maybe she didn't care at all, because what life Seiko had lived was spent never being seen in the first place.

Lloyd shook his head. That thought didn't belong to him; he glared at the eye on his hand. The maids had gotten quite scared when their eyes rested on the blood red mark of his skin, but quickly they'd adapted around it. He pushed the thoughts away to sigh.

"You're still here, Twinkies?" Seiko cocked her head to listen.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I thought you ran ahead to warn Pork Chop that the blind girl was falling behind," she said, pointing ahead. "I heard you jog up there."

Lloyd frowned. "I didn't go anywhere. I've been right beside you the whole time."

It took Seiko a moment to develop the grin and eye roll. "Uh-huh. Suuurrrree. Let's play that game, uh huh. But I'm not stupid; my other senses are heightened. I know that you ran ahead. You can stop pretending now."

Lloyd's face twisted. "What are you talking about?" He asked. "I didn't go anywhere. I swear, I was right here the whole time."

It was Seiko's turn to frown. "You sure about that, Twinkies?" she asked, turning her head slightly towards him.

"Positive," he answered.

Neither of them was prepared for the feral cry erupting throughout the deserted hall, the quick shake of the chandeliers above their heads under the weight of the scream. Its bloodcurdling pitches left echoes in Lloyd's ears. The floor trembled with the noise, practically knocking Seiko onto the ground. He pulled her closer. The Eye's emotionless voice whispered a warning in his mind, but by then, his reaction was too delayed.

The shadows created by the magnificent light pieces descended on them with screams ringing horrors of the dead.


	13. Chapter 12: The Darkness Descends

**Sorry-Life's been in the way so it's taken me really long to upload!**

_12. The Darkness Descends _

COLE WASN'T ABOUT to let any part of this go unpaid for. He felt Zane's grip tighten on his wrists, but just about everyone knew that the former nindroid wasn't going to be enough to fend off a ravenous, murder-thirsted vampire, especially one who was prepared to kill. He was going to rip Kiko to shreds, torturing her with every limb slowly plucked off, every ligament ripped apart, every joint disconnected. He'd kill her deliberately, painfully, until she felt how awful it really is to be eternally this way _forever—_

Or, well, that was a fantasy. Cole technically couldn't do that, as much as his desires may have overwhelmed him. If he did, the same would happen to Seiko.

Assuming the monstrous little female creature wasn't lying, of course. But it was easy to sense a lie when you were a vampire, even more so when you just had that kind of sense to you—and he couldn't sense a drop. As much as he didn't want to believe it, deep down, Cole knew that Kiko wasn't lying to him. Not this time.

But how awful a person—vampire or not—did you have to be to prey on innocent little girls? Seiko had been little when Kiko had last met her, and obviously it hadn't been much of an experience at that. Did she create this bond as leverage? Collateral? Cole didn't think he'd ever quite know anything other than what was in front of him now, and that was by no means much. Still, he felt the anger brewing inside of him like a cauldron, waiting to broil over. The second he felt Zane's grip loosen, he would be off.

It took plenty more reminders and Kai's coaching to keep him from tearing her limb from limb. Kiko had practically undone everything Cole had worked hard to cover up yesterday with Nya, while also trying to hurt the one thing in this life that Cole loved more than himself. How could he let this go unpunished for? Over Sensei Wu's white shoulder, she grinned at him, lifting her fingers in a silent wave. The smile across her blood red lips to match that blood red hair was devious. She knew exactly what of a spider web she'd wrapped him into. She was a black widow, about to eat him alive.

There was no question in his mind what path he'd choose. Yeah, sure, it sounded really ridiculous to know that the Big Bad Ninja of Earth was terrified of this measly girl. But this was no measly little bedtime fear. This was Cole's nightmare reinvented. He figured he'd lost Kiko all those years ago, that she was a thing of the past, although the past sometimes felt more real than other times. Aside from that, he had been done thinking about her, worrying on a daily basis. That part of his life was _over. _Now, all of the sudden, with all these other terrible things happening, Kiko was somehow back, and ready to kill.

"We are the first of our kind," she said loudly to gain back his attention. Cole bared his teeth at her in a loud hiss, but it didn't affect her; she'd probably witnessed scarier things. Like her reflection.

Kai grabbed Cole's shoulders, gently moving aside Sensei. Okay, Cole wasn't much of a guy to get so angry he was worse than Kai. He was normally just the guy who liked to fight. But right now, combining the two, it was like he really _was _the demon he tried so hard not to be. Under Zane's grip, he trembled harshly. Kai squeezed the soft material over his skin, digging his nails into Cole. Cole glimpsed his eyes, ever determined, brows furrowed over them in a resolute line. That familiar confident curve to his lips returned. "You need to take a chill pill, dude," he said, holding tighter to Cole. The earth ninja felt himself breathe, but he couldn't feel the cool air swirl through his lungs. Kai forced his gaze back to his chocolate eyes, trying to gain the attention needed to perform the rest of his calming ritual. "Get a grip, Cole. This isn't so bad, when you think about it. I mean, we've fought giant snakes, and skeletons, and samurai. This shouldn't be so bad. It's just one girl. No biggie."

"You don't understand," Cole pleaded, flexing his fingers. His fingertips skimmed the material of Zane's shirt. "That's not just _one girl. _That's the demonic wench who turned me into a vampire," he hissed lowly, so only Kai could hear. "I can't—you don't understand," he repeated with a hard swallow.

But there was an extremely knowing look in Kai's eyes. "Just take a deep breath. Let's deal with this rationally, okay?"

"You must listen," said Zane from behind Cole. "It would be wise."

Sensei Wu stepped back, giving them space, something Cole hadn't anticipated the old man would do. Normally, he'd be at their side, trying to offer peace and comfort to the outraged student, but he became distant when returning back to Misako's side, some forty feet away. Kai didn't turn his head to watch, but frowned, letting Cole know that he'd observed it out the corner of his eye. He wasn't really sure why Sensei had opted out so quickly. Or, as a matter of fact, why no one was coming to aid them. Everyone just kind of stood by, watching, as though they were waiting for the beginning of a bull-riding contest: whirring on edge, but not sympathetic to those in participation.

Cole heard the _thump, shuffle, thump, shuffle _of a familiar foot pattern. He squeezed his eyes shut. _No, no no, _he thought to himself, but too late, Jay was hopping to their side. Cole dared a peek. The blue ninja of lightning's eyes were too wide for his face, lips constantly moving in attempt to comprehend, but Cole knew that there wouldn't be easy comprehension. He figured this was even worse than the last time Jay had figured out that Cole was a vampire, when they'd been battling it out in the Elemental Realm over the very same Nya who was slipping to Cole's side now. He didn't even want to look at her. The first time he'd told her, she'd been completely disoriented, but extremely understanding; right now, with her hormones skyrocketing under her pregnancy, he couldn't imagine how much worse it would be.

Kai kept his hands steady on Cole's shoulders, dripping his thumbs into the tender spot underneath his collar bone. "Cole, you need to tell her to back the hell off," he advised. "We're ninja. We can do this ourselves, you know."

Cole had already made his decision to tell Kiko to back off. There was no way he was going to leave with her to, of all things, have a _kid _with her. Not now, not ever, he said to himself, and clenched his fists. But he worried so badly about what Kiko would do to herself that could affect Seiko. Would she purposefully mutilate herself until Cole gave in? Would she do something to Nya that would make him crumple? Would she torture his friends with nightmares and sickening realities that he knew she could afflict? He didn't want to risk their safety for this insane girl, but he also didn't want to risk his, either.

So what was there to do?

Cole glanced at her over Kai's strong shoulder. He met her fiery gaze, watched her cheeks dimple with a triumphant smile. This time, he was glad to make it end like a car crash on her face. "Sorry," he said slowly, hating every word, "but you're gonna have to go M-I-A, Kiko. I'm not going _anywhere." _

And that's when he learned that was a _very _poor choice of words.

**GARMADON**

HE'D SEEN ENOUGH.

It wasn't a surprise to see that redheaded girl appear out the back of that black car and slip into the alley, passing off the mysterious black box to a mysteriously hooded figure. It wasn't a surprise to see Pythor in the front seat with a grin on his face that reminded Garmadon once again of the evil snake he was. It wasn't a surprise to him that that robot girl had made a deal with the enemy—against the ninja—to add herself to the winning team. Hell, Garmadon saw the odds better than anyone else could. But still, even watching it made him sick with horror. He thought selflessly about the white haired nindroid, Zane. Weren't they friends?

He wasted no time flying back to the _Bounty 2 _on his hanglider. It was a miracle no one saw him, which caught him a little strange, but Garmadon couldn't dawdle. Once the ship's broad, brown form came into view, though, he knew there was something wrong. Judging by the large crowd gathered on one end of the boat opposed to the scanty few that lingered on the opposite end, he knew something was very wrong, indeed.

Garmadon slowly sank through the air as he approached the ship, and he could literally _hear _the angry howls of whomever was screaming, which later turned out to be _another _redhead he'd never seen before. And the black ninja, Cole, was being held back by Zane, flanked by Kai, and a rather terrified looking couple of the ninja of lightning—Garmadon could never remember his name—and the pregnant girlfriend. Cole's vampiric face appeared to be full blown, growing with every word. The veins beneath his eyes were clearly visible, even so high up in Garmadon's position. They burned red with the blood inside. His lips were the color of what pulsed through Garmadon's veins, and his eyes were a slick silver, worse than polished iron. His fangs, long, slender, and furious, were bore, showing his row of white teeth in a growl that was nothing but predatory. His animalistic instincts were on—and Garmadon knew that if as furious as he perceived him to be, there wouldn't be anything stopping that ninja from hurting his friends to make the kill.

He spotted Misako observing from the other end and wondered why no one was moving to help. It was strange, considering these ninja were everyone's favorite gang of people—everyone except Garmadon, who favored himself more than anyone—and to watch them be stood up by a tall, angry redhead was just…different. He pursed his lips. He had plenty of news to tell the ninja, but it appeared that, with the rising tension, it would have to wait.

**KAI**

He could see the strain in Zane's face, trying to keep Cole back. Kai had already worked what magics he had in his toolbelt to keep the vampire from attacking, but he was running out of ideas. He couldn't just hold onto Cole and expect any more positive behavior to come out of him. Everything that orange-suited girl said made the vampire more obvious in his brother; the veins in his cheeks popped, his eyes turned harder, and his skin paled. The transformation literally made cracking, squishing noises as Cole changed. It was audible to Kai, and he was standing close, but not _that _close; it was staring to make his skin crawl. Zane made a distressed noise. Tugging back his brother, trying to fight against the current in which yanked Cole closer to the one called "Kiko" that was now shouting some kind of language at them that Cole apparently understood. It didn't sound Chinese—the only other language Kai knew that Cole could speak—so he was significantly puzzled.

Zane's heels dug into the ground. Kai shoved against Cole's chest, but he wasn't the ninja of earth for nothing; it was like pushing against a brick wall. He'd never make progress this way. "She's—speaking—in—a vampire tongue," Zane gasped. "I recognize the lisp."

Kai pushed harder. "Jay?" he grunted. "A Little help?" Then, to Cole's face, he said, "Ignore her! She's trying to make you angry. If you hurt her—which she wants you to do—you'll hurt Seiko. Remember? Your sister?"

Cole tuned him out, baring his teeth to spit a snarl over his head. Kai glanced at Jay, but there wasn't any difference in the fear that Jay omitted just looking at the boy in black. He looked truly afraid of whom Jay usually respected, save the time that was previously erased from his memory, and Kai knew at that point, they'd have a lot more to be discussing rather than the Seven. He looked to the crowd on the other end of the boat. Why was no one helping? "Sensei!" He called, trying to catch the old man's interest, but his teacher only blinked at him. "Help! Please!"

There wasn't even a flicker. What was this? Kai felt his feet start to move back. _This is starting to get bad, _he thought, pushing harder, but from what force he exerted, Cole responded with Kai's strength times fifty. He started to worry about Seiko. In this daze of anger, Cole wasn't going to just let Kiko away with a black eye and a couple Band-Aids. He would probably end up snapping her neck into two satisfying pieces. Then what? Mourning his sister forever? Kai tried to imagine what life would be like if he lost Nya. After a moment, he decided that there wasn't anything worse.

"Misako!" He yelled. "Dani! _Somebody!" _

Zane made an exasperated noise from behind Cole. "I cannot locate my brother _or _Caroline in the crowd," he said worriedly. "I can't see Ming, either. Where are they?"

"Help!" Kai yelled. "JAY! DO SOMETHING!"

"I-I-I c-ca-an't," stuttered the mortified ninja of lightning, backing up. He'd gone pale. "Th-th-th—Cole, h-he—he's a-a—"

Zane was the one to answer agitatedly. Kai wasn't used to the emotions coming from the human nindroid. "Yes, a vampire. We _know," _he pulled backwards, "but you must help us, Jay! If he gets away, Seiko will get hurt!"

Jay shook his head. It was clear, then, that he was no help. Kai shoved his elbow hard against Cole's toned stomach. It was like throwing stones at a boulder; the effort was useless. Kiko shrieked something in whatever creepy vampire language she was speaking, and Kai felt it in his bones when the veil dropped.

Cole tore free.

"NO!" Kai yelled, but it was hopeless. He and Zane made a mad dash for Cole's body, but Cole was far faster than they'd ever be. Within seconds, the vampire ninja found himself holding tightly onto Kiko's arms, fangs bore, every demonic nerve in him suddenly summoned by this event. Kai ran towards them. He couldn't let Cole do this. Oh, for the Lord's sake, why wasn't anyone helping?! Zane produced a staff made purely of railing out of nowhere to hit Cole on the back of the head with, but who he hit was no longer Cole; standing in his place was a man who had the same features, though distorted, wearing the same clothes, same low voice, and same high cheekbones—but Cole had been replaced by a monster, vengeful and murderous. He whirled on Zane with a loud howl that sounded like he'd upset a really, really big snake. Kai felt a chill sweep through his bones.

Determined, Zane wielded the stake through the air without the intention of actually hurting Cole with it. But distracting the monster with the hooked fingers wasn't a very good plan. Kai had let Kiko slip through his defenses—and now, she, too, had taken on a vampiric transition. With her features cracked and menacing like the brother's Kai once knew and loved, she threw her weight at Cole, bowling over the vampire that Kai didn't think he recognized anymore. The two rolled on the floor in a blur. He didn't know supernatural speed was so…intense, he could only describe it was. Their features were nothing; all he could see was a blur of orange and black in mid-attack against one another. At periods of time they would stop, and one of them would be pinned beneath the other; but the dance wasn't over yet. The one plastered to the deck would writhe free and attack again.

Zane wielded the stave like Sensei's staff. Kai tore another chunk out of the railing. He'd fix the broken boat later. He glanced at the crowd, now dwindling in numbers; some of the nindroids had disappeared! They left back to do whatever they'd done before the loud noise had occurred. Kai looked around for Darreth, but he couldn't see the brown ninja. Where was he?

"YOU'RE—DEAD!" shrieked Kiko in words Kai actually understood. Zane and the fire ninja looked for the best angle to jump into, but every time Kai caught sight of a decent one, they were blurrily moving again. It was difficult.

"HELP!" Kai yelled one more time. "Sensei! Misako! COME ON!"

He couldn't _believe it. _What was wrong with them? Why were they just watching? Zane's face betrayed his dismay as he swung the wooden stake towards a blur, and ended up catching a blow to Kiko. It would've been a merry accomplishment, but Zane winced. "Crap," he muttered Kai was impressed. He'd never heard Zane say that before.

"COLE! CALM DOWN!" He yelled. All was lost in the amplified sound of cats fighting that actually came from the two humanoid beings sparring on the _Bounty 2's _main deck.

He aimed his stake, but when he threw it, it hit the empty spot where Cole and Kiko had once been, but were no longer. Kai gave an angry groan. Seriously! Could they not just stay still for once?

It was time to aim another shot when Kai saw Zane pause confusedly. "Father?" He asked.

Julien was pleasantly coming down the stairs, holding in his hands a plate of bacon and toast. He smiled a friendly grin at his son. "Hello, Zane! You forgot to turn the stove off," he informed the Zane who stared at him in shock and confusion. Julien didn't seem to notice. "Lucky I caught it, otherwise the whole ship would've gone down!" He waved a cheery goodbye at Zane, but the white-clad boy gasped a,

"Wait!" Julien paused. "Father, come help us, please!"

Julien glanced at the blurs, gaze lazily passing over them. He looked back to his son. "They can deal with it on their own, Zane," he scolded. "Otherwise, the problem will never be solved. I taught you that! Have you really forgotten?" Zane opened his mouth to try and speak, but suddenly, Julien laughed loudly. "Oh, silly me," he chuckled, batting his hand through the air. "Here I am, talking to the air again, like you actually can remember."

"I…I beg your pardon?" Zane blinked slowly. Kai frowned.

Julien smiled happily. "Well, of course you're not real, Zane," he said matter-of-factly. "You died. I watched you die. You're just a figment of my imagination. Still, it's nice to see you every once in a while. But I have an invention to get back to. Toodle-loo!" he waved his hand goodbye. Zane tried to stutter a means of halt, but the Tinkerer already disappeared into the mechanisms room, the door slamming shut behind him. Kai didn't know what on earth he was supposed to say.

Zane stared with circular eyes at the floor, mouth agape. The stake was frozen in his hands. "He just…_toodle-loo'ed _me," he whispered. "My father just toodle-loo'ed me."

Bringing him from his trance, Kai heard the loud snarl of one of the two fighting vampires on the deck. He turned to see that Kiko, despite the size difference, had the earthy Cole into a headlock, fangs bared. She grinned with her teeth sticking pointedly past her lower jaw. "Oh, my dear," she said around them. Cole struggled to be free, his vampire face still in action. He wasn't going to see reason with it on. Kai wracked his brain for a way to somehow make him change back to normal—even if for just a second—when he thought of Nya. However risky it was, it had to be done, if they wanted to keep Cole alive. He whirled. "Nya!" he shouted. He found her by the mast, on her knees beside a Jay who was lying on the ground unconscious. The poor sucker had _fainted! _"Nya, I need you to—"

He never finished. Zane stared at something over his shoulder with wider eyes than before. His hand raised to point. "K-Kai!" he spluttered, unable to find any other way to speak, too shocked to handle words. "Kai!"

"What?" Kai asked, feeling a chill creep down his spine at the last second.

"_GREEEEEEENNNN!" _Zane shouted. Kai whirled.

"Hello, Ninja," Darreth held the hammer high over his head, a peak in which Kai feared more than the sting of a vampire's teeth. His eyes gleamed a sickening, deep shade of green. It was the disgusting color of evil that was making Kai's stomach churn. Or maybe that was fear. Darreth gave him a brisk, bitter smile. "Goodbye, Ninja."

And he brought the mallet down hard on Kai's skull.

**…**

_KILL. _

He had no other instinct. Pinning her against him, this girl whose name he no longer could comprehend, he wrapped his arm around her throat, instinctively enjoying the way she struggled. Her gasping breaths were enough for the vampire to know that he was winning. He liked the sound of her breath suddenly rushing from her lungs, stolen by the force of his brute strength; it was extremely enjoyable.

Holding tighter to her throat still, his instincts burned deeper in his mind, wearing holes into his skull.

He saw the old man come to his side, his eyes green beneath the crinkles of his olding skin. For some reason, he felt like he should be weary of the shade, but he decided to think about it later. The vampire held tighter onto the girl's throat. Oh, why did he feel like if he did this, it would do something extremely bad? He couldn't remember. He heard the satisfying cracking of his veins showing further from his depressed skin.

The old man nodded once at him, giving him a commanding gaze through the swirling green of his eyes. "_Do it." _

The vampire didn't really care what the old man thought. He was going to do it anyway. Baring his teeth, the vampire distantly heard shrieks of horror, but he was more intent on killing this writhing thing in his arms. He heard a yell from behind him. "COLE!"

Was that his title? He turned, still holding the girl in his arms, to face the scene behind him. The white-dressed boy was staring at him, hard. Using him as a distraction, the vampire later decided after he saw the brown clothed man drop a hammer to the deck. At his feet was a crumpled, red form. Why did the vampire feel like he needed to be concerned? An older woman was wrestling a dark haired girl to her feet from the ground beside some weakling who passed out. That old lady, too, had those green eyes. The vampire wondered if it was genetic.

In his arms, the girl writhed. The boy with white clothing stepped towards him cautiously. "Cole, don't," he said softly, but his voice shook with fear and pain. The vampire tested the air with his tongue for the taste of blood in the oxygen, but there was none. "Don't Cole, think about Seiko."

Seiko. That name sounded familiar. The boy's eyes narrowed, strength widening to keep that tiny, obnoxious form in his arms still. His fangs extended, and he smiled at the boy, despite the fact that he knew in his heart that this wouldn't end well. The boy's eyes widened. "NO, Cole, **_DON'T_**_—!" _

"Do it," whispered the old man's voice over his shoulder. "Finish her."

The vampire's grip on the girl's head tightened. He twisted, hard.

There was a snap.

The girl went limp in his arms.

She dropped to the ground, dead, her heartbeat unmoving and uncontinuous. Satisfied, the vampire's heart began to slow. The threat was dead. But before he could bear to start to settle down, there was the heavy landing of feet to wood. The vampire's eyes caught sight of the robed, gray haired man landing on the deck, whom he'd seen flying in the distance. The supernatural creature's interest peaked. The man gasped.

"Kai!" he whispered before catching sight of everyone else. "Nya! Blue—person! What have you _done?" _He whirled on the brown ninja, flanked by the elder man and woman, all impassively staring him down with emotionless gazes. "WU! Misako! What is the meaning of this?!"

The white boy shook, unsure of what to do. The vampire heard his heartbeat quicken. He also caught sight of something bobbing over the edge of the boat's railing.

**ZANE**

"What did I miss?" Caroline leaped on board, dusting off her hands to her jeans, tucking her hair behind her ear. Zane saw her through an unsure blur. Normally, he was the first to react. But now…Zane looked at Kai's rumpled form. No, Kai wasn't dead, he knew that much. The dark protective ring around his body told Zane more than he needed to know: Elathan was watching over his son. He looked at Jay, fainted and weak; he saw Nya, collapsed and unconscious. He was thankful to see Garmadon reacting differently than the three villains emerging. He watched the green eyes of everyone around him—Sensei, Misako, _Darreth—_and knew that this had been coming.

_The Seven. _

Clearly, none of these people were going to fill the final spot.

He would mourn later the loss of them, but for now, Zane looked to Cole, with Kiko lying dead at his feet. It was only a matter of time now—perhaps Seiko had already died the instant that her doppelganger did. He didn't know what to do other than glance wearily between Caroline's raised brow and everything around him.

She didn't look the least bit impressed. In fact, she looked bored with the sight. "Oh, come on, she whined, stepping closer to Darreth than she did to Garmadon, who he would've thought she would've stood by. Zane felt the blow of strangeness hit him. "You had to do this while I was _gone? _I told you to _wait, _dangit!"

Wait…_wait? _Zane would've malfunctioned if he were still a nindroid. He was so confused.

"Sorry," Darreth responded, "but the Annoying Orange over there appeared earlier than she should have." He gestured to Kiko's dead body with his thumb. Cole glanced absentmindedly at his feet. The veins were slowly disappearing, meaning that Zane's only conscious brother was returning back to normal. He could see the effects begin to take place.

With Darreth's comment implied that there was some kind of backstory here. This was all _planned. _Zane staggered under the realization. _Caroline…_He glanced at her in alarm. Caroline's hazel eyes met his with a confident smirk.

"What's the matter, baby?" she asked. He swallowed. "Come on, you can talk to me."

But Zane didn't know he had the words. "C-Caroline…?" He managed. She gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Sorry, love," she said to him. Wu turned towards them, "but there's nothing I've learned to hate more in my lifetime than _hope." _She stepped towards Zane with an angry footstep. His knees felt weak under her steady scrutiny. "I learned not to hope after I realized the majority of my brothers and sisters were dead. I also learned not to hope after I knew you weren't coming back." Caroline shrugged like it was the most obvious thing ever.

Zane's jaw couldn't quite form the words. "…But I'm here now?"

"Too late," Caroline smiled. She was so close, he could smell her perfume. Zane's feet would give out any second. "I don't _hope _anymore. I just _do. _And I think being on the winning side is a lot easier than joining the losing one, because just about all you guys are running on is hope." She poked him in the chest. Zane staggered as though Caroline had punched him. She seemed to like having the upper edge. With a grin, she wiggled her fingers at him. "Anyway…Sorry about that, darling." She turned to Darreth. "Tie up Garmadon," she commanded. "We're handing them over."

"H-han—"

"Shush, Zane," Caroline snapped angrily. "_Yes, _handing you over. Eloquim wants you all in his dungeons, and before the Devourer arrives. He's got a particularly special _plan _for you."

"The Dev—"

"SHUSH! Did I not say shush?" From behind her, Zane heard the echoes of Garmadon's cries of protest. They bounced off the mast in loud shrieks until there was a sudden, sharp ending to his jagged-noted cry; the responding thump told Zane that whatever had happened, it had left Garmadon either asleep or dead. He prayed he was just asleep when Caroline's fingers trailed up his arms. She gave him a look from beneath her lashes. "Poor Zane," she murmured. Her fingers were as cold as ice, and stung like venom to his skin. Zane trembled. He didn't know what to do. For once, he had no _idea _what to do. "Poor, poor baby…"

Out the corner of his eye, Zane saw Cole fly into action under Sensei Wu's hand with a loud hiss that slowly drained into a snore. Cole was down, leaving him as the last ninja standing.

And it seemed like Caroline was _not _about to let him get away with it. She smiled, running her hands up his arms. "I _really _wish I didn't have to do this," she whispered, pulling his head down to hers. Numb, Zane didn't pull away, and felt the soft brush of her _icy _lips against his. Her hands kneaded freezing patterns into the back of his neck. He felt too cold to maintain realistic body heat. And—and Caroline, she was…was….

Her kiss disconnected with a parting _click. _Zane felt his vision swirl. He felt _himself _swirl. "I love you, Zane," she whispered, and that was the last thing he heard before his head was engulfed in ice that knocked him out cold.


	14. Chapter 13: The Ties that Bind

_13. The Ties that Bind_

**MINUTES BEFORE KIKO'S DEATH**

HE WAS EMPTY.

His soul was void of anything that contributed to human emotion, leaving him with just the bare breath of life, a pure whisper of memory as to what it really was like to be human. There was nothing within him that contributed to the charismatic young boy he had once been. He was left cold, dry, aching inside—because of death. Death was what coiled his ankles and yanked at his shoes, what drug him through the pits of broken glass, tearing his skin piece by piece. How many more times did he, so young, so brave, need to see it happen? In just a short time span, he had already callously lost three of his friends to what was becoming the worst enemy yet, destroying his insides, purposefully squeezing his heart. This enemy he faced was tenaciously taking him down. He was destroying Lloyd to make sure that there would be no return from the darkness he would soon fall into. But how many more people did he have to lose in order to understand that this was no life for him? No normal kid would've been sucked into a portal to be trolled down into the very pits of hell, to be consumed by darkness that screamed across the walls in wraithlike forms, yelling as it was agitated. Fate was unresolvedly rude to Lloyd. No, not fate; _destiny. _It was destiny to blame.

The fat little man seemed unfazed at destiny, so inhumanly attacking the atmosphere with the needles of black that surrounded them. Lloyd didn't feel any fear in his heart, nor resolution; all preceding undertones of emotion that had pricked his heart now faded into numb darkness. Unruly, spiteful screams now rattled the chandeliers of bones overhead. They joined forces with whatever tremors wrought the floor to create a fearful ether to the Castle of Darkness. Across the floors crawled the black fog, and atop the walls skulked the small tendrils of inhumanity. These shadows were using their screams to intimidate him. And miserably, they failed.

The fat elfish man was not swayed by this. Apparently, this was a natural occurrence. "Damn thy torturous souls!" He yelled, waving his arms through the air. Seiko plunked her hands over her ears to drive out the sound. Lloyd blinked. The screams, coming from some unseen throat, sounded fearful, scared, and, as the elf said, tortured. Wherever their producers hid, they were not content. "Go back to the darkness from whence you came!"

The maid who had escorted Seiko into the hallway now trotted up behind them. Her red eyes skimmed over Seiko's hands with an accompanying frown. "Leave, she must," informed the maid, batting her hands in a gesture that communicated they needed to go. Lloyd looked down at the recently blind girl. He finally noticed the sickened beading of sweat on the girl's pale face.

"What's wrong?" He asked, but he didn't expect to be heard over the shrill cries. They sent repeating shivers trailing up his spine. Though the comment had been aimed at his fellow prisoner, it was the maid who spoke, nervously glancing around the room.

"The spirits," she said, "they are angry with you."

"Me? Why?" Lloyd asked loudly. He grabbed Seiko's shoulder.

_"THAT NOISE!" _Seiko yowled. "SO…LOUD!" She squeezed her transparent eyes shut. In front of them, the elf continued to jump into the air, waving his clipboard in means to bat away the crumbling tendrils of shadow that tried to poke him. Lloyd raised a brow inquisitively at the maid.

"You have brought someone they do not like with you." The maid looked terrified, eyes widely nervous. "They don't like creatures of her kind." She pointed at Seiko's back, since the other girl wasn't turned towards her.

Lloyd would've been confused. Instead, he looked to Seiko with curiosity. "Creatures of her kind?" He questioned. What kind of people may she be referring to? Insane ones?

But the maid shook her head quickly. "I've said too much!" She squeaked. "Get her to go—now! The spirits are feeding from her—she will fall shortly if they continue to suck life force!" With that, the frightened maid ran down the opposite end of the hall, abandoning Lloyd with the blind girl and a short, useless elf. Lloyd turned to them. He could feel the physical puncturing of the spirits' powers trying to eat away at him, too, but it didn't take long for him to realize that once again, the Eye was working its wonders. Practically invincible to danger, Lloyd knew there would be no feasting from him tonight. He could sense the anger from these spirits injected through the air towards him, and hatred towards Seiko, but for what reason, he didn't think he'd know just yet. If the Eye hadn't told him, it was a heavy indication he'd have to discover that himself.

His idea worked similarly to how he had healed Seiko's mysterious cut in her sleep. Using the Eye's powerful aura, he had waved the back of his hand over her wound while she was unconscious, while underneath his healing tattoo, the slimy cut had disappeared. Now, he called upon the Eye with every ounce of strength he had in his body. But to get what he wanted, this red-and-green display over the skin wanted something in return. Lloyd ground his teeth together. _How can it be a part of me and still be so stubborn? _He wondered, glaring at the back of his hand. What could he give it when it was a part of him?

The shadows' shrieks became louder, forcing Seiko's knees to bobble. Lloyd had made a promise to protect her and bring her back to the human world safely when he realized they were stuck in hell. This was no war for her to be in. There was a loyalty inside of the Green Ninja's heart that wanted to make sure that his brother's sister returned without a scratch. Okay, so the first strange one didn't count. But how good of a Green Ninja would he be if he failed at protecting one simple person while on the job? Especially someone who was related to someone he once loved?

Lloyd glanced at Seiko. He saw a strange welt begin to appear on her shoulder, the size of a fist. It started to pucker a deep shade of purple out of nowhere. It looked like someone had punched her, but he knew as well as anyone that she hadn't been touched.

Something was wrong here. It wasn't just these shadows that were hurting Seiko. It was something else. Something deeper, a bond within her that was invisible to even sensitive eyes. Whatever was hurting her was unseen. Lloyd clenched his fists.

He would do his job. No matter what it took.

The Green Ninja took a deep breath, blocking out the sounds of screaming from his ears. There wasn't any way that he could possibly pry his eyes from that strange pucker on Seiko's smooth shoulder. First a cut, then a bruise; Lloyd was beginning to add things together. He barely glanced down at his hands when he knew what he had to do.

_My memories, _he thought, _have feelings in them. I don't, but they do. I've given you my emotions already because I couldn't handle the grief; I have more to offer, if you'll take them. I will give you my most intense memories if you allow me to put a CONSTANT protection aura thing—whatever you wanna call it—around Seiko. To protect her from any supernatural harm that may come to her. Please. I can't let her get hurt by these things; she doesn't belong in this war._

There was a satisfied ripple that heated the shape of the eye on his hand. It stung. _I suppose that's fair, _said a dark voice. It sounded like it was a whisper coming from just behind his ear; it was the angel and the devil's child sitting on his shoulder. It told him good _and _bad things. _But I don't want the useless recollections. What would I do with your first bike ride? I want the REAL memories, boy, the ones that have REAL emotion. Give me something to taste. And I want a new memory for every fix of your little pet's protective shield. It'll have to be renewed every four days, if you want it to stay strong and do its job. This first memory…pick one that you cherish most. I'll suck the emotions from the memory, but you can keep the pictures if you'd like. No? I see you're shaking your head. Well, that's fine; more for me. I'll keep the pictures too, then. I would hurry and make your first pick, child; I can already sense the dangers leading up to this moment. She only has seconds left to live. _

Lloyd wracked his brain for the most powerful memory he had. He searched for one that was thick and juicy with feelings, emotions that completely filled it, like a water balloon, ready to burst. What could he give? The day he defeated the Overlord? No, that didn't seem heavy enough. Oh, why was this so _hard?_ What memory did he cherish that was rich in emotion?

Then it struck him. His cheeks, with the recollection, burned at the memory; he was both ashamed and overwhelmed by even having it. The Eye sensed it and gave a happy chuckle. If he didn't know any better, he could've sworn he felt breath tickle his ear.

_PERFECT! _The Eye gasped. _Oh, I can practically taste it; give it to me! Give it to me! _Greedily, the magic within his hand struck, making him flex his fingers. _Give it! She'll be dead any second! GIVE IT!_

Lloyd closed his eyes. Oh, it was so hard to let it go; he felt his grip on the beautiful memory loosen as the ties that bound it to him slowly released their grasp. It was almost as though he were cutting the ropes holding a thousand balloons down, sending them outward into the air, floating forever. It had a terrible strain on his heart. Immediately, he felt the loss; he didn't want to let that memory go, not even as whatever power that bred the Eye to him snatched it up. He felt deprived, cold, and empty. That memory had been all that had left him going.

But it meant Seiko would be safe.

The golden aura appeared around her almost instantly, shielding her from the dark vines of death and spirits crawling across her. Seiko, too, must have felt it, for she lifted her head slowly, removing her hands to straighten her back. Her head moved around, though Lloyd knew she couldn't see. Well, the job was done. She was safe now from any supernaturally inflicted harm that could _ever _come to her, rendering her harmless and protected under Lloyd's care. The Mitsuhide didn't seem to notice the golden aura at all. Probably because she couldn't see it. Turning to Lloyd, she held out her hand. "Twinkies?" she gasped. "Why is the screaming not so loud? Did they stop for a water break or what? What was that?"

Truthfully, the screaming was still loud, but the aura must have reduced its sound because she must have been going deaf. Her face, Lloyd noted, returned to its full, normal creamy color, though her cheeks were a rosy shade of pink, lips full and parted while her eyes searched for him. She still held out her hand. Groping to find him with her long fingers, still partially covered by the lacy gloves, Seiko frowned. Her dark lashes blinked over her grey eyes. "Twinkies?"

"Why do you call me that?" He asked numbly, but held out his hand. Her fingers skimmed his bare wrist. He saw her relax, although she tried not to show it.

"'Cause," she replied, grabbing onto the silky material of his robes, "it wouldn't make you sound as kinky if I called you _cupcakes, _now would it, Goldy Locks?"

Lloyd sighed, rolling his eyes, but he felt himself smile. "It's Lloyd," he said. He hadn't actually formally told her his name yet. At least, not to her face. "Lloyd Garmadon."

"Oh, I know," she grinned, showing a row of perfectly small, white teeth. "But I think _Twinkies _is better."

He noted that she looked a lot healthier ever since the shield had formed around her. Not only had her color returned, but her voice wasn't as low and cracked, nor was her posture limping and frail. Lloyd felt accomplished. Holding onto his robes, the blind girl blinked at him, a deceitful curl to her lips. "I wish I could see your face right now," she said. It tried to fly out as a joke, but Lloyd caught the sadness to her tone. He patted her hand encouragingly.

"We'll fix that," he told her.

Seiko snorted and rolled her eyes. "Like how?" She held her fingers next to her head, wiggling them. "Voodoo?"

Lloyd chuckled, despite the emptiness and loss within him. "Something like that," he said vaguely, and caught sight of the elf trotting towards them. His eyes were a deep read, lips puckered with anger. His expression gave way that he'd chewed on something sour.

"Come at once!" he said angrily. "Ignore these wretched beasts! We're already late!" He began to run again. "Beware—they bite!"

_Neither of us will have a problem with that, _Lloyd thought. He held out his arm to Seiko, but she just stared into the air with a frown. After a moment, he remembered that the poor girl couldn't see, and took her hand to place it on his silk-covered bicep instead. Seiko's lips pursed.

"Are you trying to be the chivalrous knight, or what?" she asked, but complied willingly with him in their stroll down the corridor. The fat elf was miles ahead. Lloyd didn't feel anxious, though, sauntering lightly down the hallway with the dark shadows trying to bite them, as warned by the elf, but coming up with agitated cries. Neither of them was punctured by the sting of the spirits' evil. It would've been peaceful, but all Lloyd felt was strangely emptier than he was before. He didn't know it, but not only had he saved Seiko from the spirits, he'd saved her from death by Kiko's unnatural tie to the other girl's soul. While Kiko lay rotting in the world above, Seiko was perfectly safe beside him, making jokes about what kind of "monkey suit" they'd stuck Lloyd into to spice his appearance for the kid they were supposed to be dining with.

Lloyd wasn't sure about it then, but he was walking into the dining hall of the Prince, but not just a prince who ruled with a small, twelve year old face and idiotic sense of unsort. Though this boy was able to alter his age at will, at heart he remained a twelve year old, while usually he transformed into an eighteen year old to appear more menacing to those surrounding him. This boy, the son of the King of the Underworld, his name that of _Noel _and relating to Kai in every way that Lloyd didn't imagine, waited impatiently for his guests to arrive. The frown upon his changed face—now that of an eighteen year old's, to impress his guests—scowled down at the empty grail in his hands. Those belligerent _fools. _He knew he shouldn't have trusted a fat creature to do his dirty work. Rubbing his hands together, Noel leaned back in his throne, angry. That elf would suffer the death penalty for making him wait. The true Prince of Darkness drug his nails down the fine wood of his mother's dining table for twenty, empty without the meal prepared. If he pushed any harder, the table would've split in half…

Outside the door, Lloyd sighed, unsure of what was really happening beyond those elegant doors separating him from Noel. He didn't know what to expect. The elf nervously tapped his fingertips together, while Seiko leaned into Lloyd, whispering, "What's going on? Why have we stopped?"

Lloyd's shoulders felt heavy. He truly felt misplaced. How could he have given up that memory without hesitating? While the strange creature opened up the heavy golden doors, struggling to yank open their weight by himself, Lloyd Garmadon mourned the unsettling loss of the last memory of Kai that he ever had.


	15. Chapter 14: What I'd Give to Know You

_14. What I'd Give to Know You_

**ONE MONTH AGO  
****_(Post-Eloquim)_**

"RISE AND SHIIIIINNNEEEEEE, people, it's a brand new day!"

_Go. Away. _Lloyd buried his face into the pillow further, trying to ignore the loud sound of Jay's voice. Responding groans came from his brothers around him. The Ninja of Lightning might as well have been smashing cymbals together in his one man parade around the room.

"You suck," Lloyd heard Kai's groaning voice from above him. "Get the hell out of here."

"Really, you do," agreed the grunt of Cole, stirring himself from the bed adjacent to Lloyd's. Lloyd peered through the veil of his squinted eyes—sunlight was pouring into the room—as Cole kicked off his covers. He swung his muscled legs over the side of his upper bunk. Below him, Zane's eyes were just beginning to open.

Jay stood in the center of the room, arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. He closed his eyes with a raised chin. "Say what you like," he said loudly, "but I'd say I'm the best ninja out of all of you lazy sons of skeletons. Except for you, Lloyd," Jay turned to the hidden Green Ninja with an apprehensively humorous look. "You're the son of _Garmadon." _

"Wow, you know who his father is!" gasped Cole, falsely impressed. He hopped off the bed to land gracefully on the floor, his feet barely making a sound against the time-worn wood. In his black sweatpants and actual shirt—from what Lloyd knew, it was rare when Cole actually wore shirts to bed—he crossed his arms over his broad chest, raising a thick eyebrow at the blue ninja. "You deserve an award for that! What award do you think he deserves, boys?" Cole looked to the others for opinions.

"The award for the loudest male yeller I have ever encountered in my indigenous life," Zane said calmly, sitting up in bed. He rubbed his head, eyes still squinted from sleep.

"The award for the most _obnoxious _rooster I've ever met," Kai offered. Lloyd saw him jump to the end of the bed, but his descent made a thump against the wood, unlike Cole's. Kai paused to rethink that. "And the most funny-looking."

"Hey!" Jay frowned at them. His gaze narrowed on Kai, who was silently laughing to himself. His brown hair stuck up in different directions, his red pajamas wrinkled from sleep. Lloyd's head felt too dizzy to raise himself up. The pounding behind his lids got worse with every pinnacle of light that hit his pupils. To add to his already-sickened feeling, the tornado devastating his stomach was becoming inferior. He could practically feel the excess blood rolling around in his organs…He shivered. Gross.

"What about you, Green Ninja?" asked Cole, jarring Lloyd from his dizzy daze. "What do _you _think?"

They all looked at him, unaware that inside of their friend, there was a disease trying to consume him. But he had already decided he couldn't let them know _anything _about the Arachnaeus. He didn't really need to burden them more with what was already pushing down on their lives: Sensei Wu's death.

Lloyd rolled onto his back. Even _that _minisculemotion made his equilibrium become…well, not equal. He tried to focus better on the bottom of the bunk above him while replying dizzily, "The award for the dude with the most picayune brain I know."

There was a pause in the room. There; a moment of peace was given to the infected Green Ninja. He tried to evolve past his morning sickness while Jay groaned, "Oh, God, it's like _bequeath _all over again!"

Zane finally stood from his bed, motions swift from his nindroid body. His movement wasn't as graceful and catlike as Cole's, but it certainly wasn't anything like Kai's disruptive efforts. "It means," the nindroid said, "someone with a small amount of knowledge within their systems."

"Pea-brain," translated Kai.

Jay turned on them with a glare. "Oh, _ha, ha, _yeah, okay, but I don't see _you _guys making any training bots, or vehicles, or hey, even _boosters _on a _water bound ship!" _He huffed, wrapping his arms around himself, face pinched.

Cole rolled his eyes. Lloyd had to close his. There was too much turmoil in his head to even _begin _trying to see things correctly. Putting a cool hand to his forehead, he had to listen to his healing brothers bicker around him instead of watch it happen. "That's not exactly knowledge," countered Cole. "That's more of…"

"Excessive ability in the art of technologies based on hydro-powered mechanisms, humanoid robotics, and a respectable fascination with transportation devices."

"Thank you, Zane," Cole responded to the cheery reply.

"Oh, and insufferability," Kai added. "Don't forget that."

There was the loud sound of a stomp. "You guys are mean!"

"Oooooohhhh, sissyyyy."

"Shut up, Cole."

"Why? You're being a sissy."

"I am _not _a sissy."

"You are both pathetic," Zane laughed. "I lament your lack of maturity."

"Jay hasn't hit puberty yet," Kai responded. "Don't you hear the way his voice squeaks?"

"I have _too!" _

"You sure?"

"Is it Pick-on-Jay Day or something?" Jay gasped, irritated. "Everyone has so far picked on me this morning."

Lloyd could hear bitterness in Kai's voice. "Even your girlfriend?"

"_Yes, _even my girlfriend," snapped Jay.

Lloyd heard somebody open their trunk in search of clothes. Cole was the next to respond. "Did you know your name rhymes with a lot of stuff? _Day, say, way…" _

"Gay?"

**"KAI!" **

"Yeesh, sorry, calm your storm, dude," Kai chuckled through his apology. Cole was also stifling laughter. If Lloyd wasn't feeling so disgusting, he would've given a couple of laughs, too. "We're only having fun."

"Yeah, Sparky," agreed Cole. Lloyd hushed a groan. "You know we love you."

"That's weird," Jay answered irritably. "Really weird."

"_You're _weird."

"OW! Why'd you punch me, Kai?"

"I punched your arm! It's a sign of affection!"

"That also makes me wonder if my best friend is an unlisted pedophile."

"Now who's being mean?"

"It's karma!"

"She's a bitch," Cole said from the distance. So _he _was the one going through the trunk. Lloyd rubbed his eyes.

"Who is Karma?" Zane asked. "I have never heard of her before. What's she like?"

Someone snorted. "I just told you she's a bitch," Cole answered.

"You must realize by now that word is not installed in my database."

There was laughter from Cole, Jay, and Kai, echoing off the bunkroom's walls. It was a nice sound to hear play in the evil-free world. The days stacking up since the Overlord's defeat were by far Lloyd's favorites, because every day, they could laugh just like this, joke just like this, without feeling stressed at all. He felt a smile creep across his dry lips. He wet them, knowing he liked living this way.

Well, minus the Arachnaeus.

"I do not understand what is so funny," Zane said honestly. Lloyd smirked.

"She's just really mean," Jay answered through giggles. "You wouldn't like her. But if you want to meet her, I dare you to hit Cole."

"Do it, and I'll bite you," Cole warned.

"Why would you bite him?" Jay asked curiously. "You're a ninja, with all these cool martial arts abilities in your tool belt, and you would use your _teeth _on a guy who is made of metal?"

"I think he's made of jelly," Kai offered. There was a responding _click _as Kai opened his own trunk. "He's all mushy at the center. Like candy."

There was a pause. "What the f—what's your deal?" Jay asked incredulously. Someone was stifling laughter. "_You're_ the one being gooey this morning."

Kai made a noise. "I had a nice dream until _you _came in."

"_Oooooh, _a nice dream!" Jay's voice trembled with quieted laughter. "What was it about, your Amazingness? Did you dream you were the Green Ninja again?"

"Nope."

Zane asked excitedly, "Was it about an island hosting a ridiculous contest in which all participants must engage in a constant fight to the death, where the last person standing gets to walk away with their lives as their only reward?"

There was a pause. Lloyd, too, felt a little confused. That was actually a really brutal thought for someone as gentle as Zane. He frowned. He still didn't trust his eyes enough to let them view light.

"Uh…That's a, um, really nice picture, Zane, but no," Kai answered slowly.

"Was it about…" Cole _tsk_ed his tongue as he thought. "I'm going to go on a limb here and say it was definitely rainbows and unicorns."

"You bet," Kai said sarcastically. "You guys are dorks. Hell, no. You'd never guess."

"So are you gonna tell us, or…? Leave us hanging, are you?" Jay sounded skeptical.

Lloyd's eyes didn't have to be open in order to see the haughty smirk on Kai's face. "Well you don't think I'd_ tell_ you, do you?" The clicking of his trunk's locks closing at the foot of Lloyd's bed filled the silence.

Cole coughed. "I was kind of hoping you would. Now I'm curious."

"Sucks for you."

"You're really not gonna tell us?!" Jay cried. "Oh, come on, dude!"

"Nope."

Everyone was desperate to know. The excitement filled the air. "Was it about Sensei?" asked Jay hurriedly.

Cole jumped at the bit. "Did you dream about some kind of enemy you defeated?"

"Were you crowned King of Ninjago?" Jay asked. Kai's footsteps moved around the room. "Did you get an award for something?"

"Did you get a—"

"Say _anything _about chain mail, Zane, and I'm going to go nuts," Cole interrupted.

"You guys will never know," Kai said haughtily. Lloyd could tell he was enjoying the attention, as well as the stand in the upper hand. The smile was visible in his words. "It'll take you forever until you figure it out."

"Does it have something to do with me?"

"Why would I dream about you, Cole?"

"Um…" Cole searched for a reason. "You think I'm cool?"

"Ha!" Kai laughed. "Not even _close." _

"Well, crap."

Lloyd's stomach flopped then. It felt like someone punched him in the gut. He let out an exasperated, breathless exhale, one that was audible, cutting off the guesses of Kai's dream around him. He had hoped not to draw attention to himself, but the knot in his stomach was way worse than just a little stomach cramp. It was a warning that came every single time. It was his insides talking to him without using words: It was holding too much blood.

"Lloyd?" Kai's voice became a whisper.

"Oh, jeez, kid," Cole sounded worried. Lloyd hated it. There was nothing he despised more than being fussed over. "You look sick."

"I'm fine," Lloyd slurred. His voice betrayed him. Curse him for not being able to speak proper words without having them come out like he was saying _alpine _instead of _I'm fine._ He felt the depression of weight on the bed beside him while someone came to his side. A second later, he felt a warm hand press against his forehead.

"Holy Torchfire Mountain," Kai murmured. "You're cold as ice."

"And pale," added Jay nervously. They were all closer now. "Reaaallly pale."

"You look dead."

"Thanks, Cole," grumbled Lloyd. He scrubbed his hands over his face.

"Don't mention it." There was the brush of a hand over his forehead, eliminating the mask of his bangs. Cole's cool fingertips fluttered across his skin, temperatures different than Kai's. He finally began to feel the cold layer of sweat over his body. It was horrendously unnerving to know that his image in front of his friends was being portrayed as a weak, sick Green Ninja. He had killed the _Overlord _for crying out loud, and he was letting a silly illness get the best of him?

But he knew it wasn't just a silly sickness. No. No, it was a _murderous _sickness, if anything. He contemplated telling them about it—that was the closest moment he ever got—but something stopped him.

Behind his eyelids, Sensei's face flashed. With the disappearance of his image, he mentally distributed the pain of his death to each of his brothers around him, remembering that they were still suffering and worried. What kind of friend would he be if he dumped this on them so suddenly?

"I sense there is something you're not telling us," Zane admitted quietly. Lloyd could've smacked him. "What is it?"

Lloyd wanted to tell, he really did. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He felt like a little kid again, tucked beneath the covers, with his mother at the foot of his bed and stroking his leg, whispering small comforts to him in the shadows. But she was at home with his father, as unaware as anyone but Lloyd and the old lady who freely distributed poisoned spiders and Traveler's Tea like a drug dealer. He sighed heavily again. With that came the clench of his overfilled stomach.

"The light," Cole suddenly gasped. "Close the curtains! It's hurting him."

"How do you know?" Jay asked, but there was the sound of a retreating pair of steps moving to do as the earth ninja commanded. A second later, Jay said softly, "You can open your eyes now, Lloyd. The sun is gone."

He did.

Kai was sitting beside him, his expression deeply concerned, with the other three standing in a semi-circle around his bed. Lloyd felt like some kind of sick person in a hospital. Jay's face was pinched with worry, while Cole's grimace let on that he knew more than he should've, which Lloyd found extremely strange. Zane was Zane, so he just stared without expression. He was observing Lloyd with those icy eyes of his. Lloyd was a bug under a microscope.

"Hey," Kai softly whispered, poking Lloyd, "what's the matter?"

"Just a stomach bug," Lloyd quickly responded. He tried his best not to sound suspicious. "It's nothing."

Kai looked dubious, but at that moment, he was saved by the door's wide swing outwards. Nya's small form was revealed in the doorway. She looked fresh out of a shower, with a warm dress on, smiling at them, though her smile turned sour at the darkness. "What, are you guys vampires or something?" She asked, stepping into the room. Lloyd saw Cole's face grow uneasy for a moment. "What's with the shadows?" Her fingers clasped the light switch. Jay began to protest, but it was too late. Lloyd screeched at the piercing of the artificial light into his eyes. Not his best reaction, but it was an instant reaction. He ducked underneath the covers knowing he'd scared the crud out of everyone with that scream.

"Whoa!" Kai raised off the bed, his hand clasping Lloyd's shoulder over the comforter. Lloyd trembled. Oh, man, his stomach…He was like a tick about to explode. He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes to avoid any more pain. "Lloyd, what's going on, buddy?"

"That ain't no stomach bug to me," Jay added warily.

"_Ain't_ is a very improper word," Zane corrected. "That _isn't a _stomach bug."

"Shut up."

"What's going on?" Nya's voice carried outside of Lloyd's shield. He felt Kai's comforting fingers knead his shoulder.

"Something's wrong with him," Cole answered. "He won't say, but he's not looking so hot."

"Lloyd?" Nya's voice was tentative, but very mother-like. Lloyd shivered. "Get out of here, Kai." The form of Kai moved away from Lloyd, only to be uniquely replaced by Nya's much lighter form. She leaned on him. "What's up, little guy? Are you okay?"

**_"I'm not little!"_** He responded darkly. He felt bad, but the anger wasn't aimed at her. He couldn't say more than that to apologize, though. His stomach screamed at him.

"Wow. Bite her head off, why don't you," Jay growled.

"If he has a bunch of martial arts moves in his tool belt, why would he use his teeth?" countered Cole. There was the sound of him getting punched wherever it was that Jay had just punched him.

"Whoa, dude, why'd you hit him!" Kai gasped, falsely angry. "That wasn't affectionate! Shame on you!"

"Will you _please _shut up so I can do this?" Nya cut in. There was silence afterwards. Nya resumed trying to coax Lloyd from underneath his tent of darkness, but he couldn't focus on her words, instead trying to keep down the blood in his stomach. Curse the Arachnaeus. Oh, man, curse _him. _He was the idiot who let that spider loose. He was the one who wanted to kill his—he swallowed. It was definitely Lloyd's fault.

"You're okay. Come on out, don't be shy," Nya purred.

"He's not a baby, Nya," Kai scolded. "Knock it off." Nya's hands disappeared.

"_You _get him to come out, then."

"YOU GUYS!" Lloyd gasped. "Knock it off! You guys are being really flighty today. It's not—" The thesis to his soliloquy was cut short. Nope. There was no keeping it down any longer. Kicking off the covers, Lloyd ran away, doing what he liked to do best when surrounded with unnatural, uneasy things. He slammed shut the wooden bathroom door, making sure to lock it, before he retched his insides gone into the toilet bowl. Pouring out his mouth was blood, staining his lips and chin, enveloping his taste buds in the metallic essence. He couldn't stop trembling. He didn't want to look at what had just come out of his mouth. Instead, he fumbled for the handle, flushing it away, unable to rest until he heard silence. Lloyd fell against the bathroom floor with a thud. He pressed his face into the wood. This. Sucked.

The knocks were like gunshots. "Lloyd!" called Nya. "Lloyd, open up!"

He couldn't answer. He was too tired.

"Lloyd! Lloyd?"

He felt his eyes close. That's where they stayed until he was fully, completely, totally asleep.

…

Lloyd's eyes flew open. The darkness surrounding him was false, unreal. He touched his lips, dry again; he touched his chin, soft without blood. His eyelids didn't droop anymore, but he felt shaky, unsure of how to stand on his own two feet. But Lloyd wasn't standing. He was lying in a bed, in the dark; when his eyes focused, he saw that he was back in the bunkroom he thought he'd run from. Had it been a strange dream?

"Oh, thank God," whispered a voice. Lloyd jumped, but his eyes then were able to capture the off black shape in the darkness, sitting beside his bed. He could've smiled, but that would've been too hard to do. He blinked instead when Kai leaned forward to put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

Was he? Lloyd didn't know how to answer, so he shrugged beneath Kai's hand. The other boy's deep brown eyes were unsure through the sheen of fog. "We thought you were dead," Kai whispered, "when we found you in the bathroom. God, kid, you were white as a sheet, and you had blood on your chin. I thought…" His voice trailed off with a swallow. "Jay and Nya stopped to pick up some medicine for you in the Fireman's Circle," he said softly. "We landed a couple of hours ago. We gave you some stuff for your stomach a while ago. I mean…God. I've never seen a stomach bug that bad."

"What did you see?" Lloyd croaked. His throat hurt. He winced.

"The corpse of my best friend," Kai said incredulously, but softly. "You were just lying there, kid, without moving, and you didn't look like you were breathing. You scared the _hell _out of me. Literally."

Lloyd rested his head back against the pillows. Kai was like his older brother; he didn't think that he'd ever been so close to anyone before. It really became noticeable when Kai saved Lloyd from dying inside of the volcano, when he was about to die, the day they found out that he was the Green Ninja. Though the ten-year-old never would've admitted it, he admired the headstrong, determined Fire Ninja, even before Kai had saved his life. He liked to think that Kai was the one who tried the hardest to train Lloyd into becoming the ninja he was today, because it really was him who tried to get the little boy to listen. He devoted countless hours to trying to get Lloyd into shape. There was a devotion that soon mimed that of the elder boy's; he just didn't know if his devotion was _good _enough. To be honest, he loved Kai like the family he never had.

Kai touched his head. "I made everyone try not to smother you," he said. "So then when Jay and Nya got back, I forced them to watch a movie. Zane's making a cake. And Cole's working out. I think. Still, probably. I just hope you're okay, Lloyd," he responded sadly. Lloyd gave him a small smile.

"I'm the Green Ninja," he said quietly with as much confidence he could muster. "You know, '_Ninja recover!' _and all."

Kai shared a laugh with Lloyd, but the Green Ninja found a sigh bubbling up in him again. He didn't like sighing, but it actually made his stomach hurt less; now, it twisted again viciously. His laughter died there. He poked Kai's arm, curious again, trying to avert the subject away from that crappy Arachnaeus infecting his insides. "So what did you dream about?" he asked, tacking the attention onto his best friend.

Kai leaned back in the chair he'd dispatched to hold him beside Lloyd and gave a grin. "So you were listening," he noted.

"It's not like I couldn't. You guys were arguing like birds over bread." Kai chuckled at Lloyd's attempt at humor. Lloyd really did want to know, despite the fact that he was pressing, and he didn't enjoy pressing.

Kai locked both hands leisurely behind his head. He was enjoying being able to taunt people with knowledge they didn't know. Unlike the others, though, Lloyd wasn't going to whine and beg, a tactic he knew would win him the answer. That, and the fact that Kai had a better fondness for him than he did to the others. "That's funny how everyone's so into figuring out what I dreamed about. It's not as exciting as I let on. I was just trying to get the guys to do exactly what they did. You still wanna know?" Kai raised a brow.

Lloyd shrugged. "Nothing's stopping you," he responded quietly.

"Well," Kai said slowly, dragging out the process with the ghost of a devilish smirk, "I was dreaming about a person."

"No duh."

Kai smiled. Lloyd could feel everything building up to this one spot. Leaning forward, the fire ninja met Lloyd's eyes directly, smothering him with the intensity of his dark gaze. "I had this dream," he began in a hushed tone, "of this girl." Lloyd tried not to groan. He wasn't really into romance yet; to him, girls still carried that infectious plague referred to as Cooties. "No, let me finish. I don't know who she is, but I just knew that I saw her, and I wish I knew what her name was. What I would've given to know her! But…" He shrugged, his expression becoming unfocused while he travelled deeper into the memory. "We were in a monastery, I think. For some reason, that's what I kept thinking it was, but it was actually just this big, empty room. Cole, Jay, Zane, and I were standing on one end of it. Cole and Jay were fighting about something, but I guess I just never paid enough attention to know what it was. But they were _fighting. _They seemed really angry at each other; Jay especially. I kept trying to get them to stop because at one point Jay tried to hit him, but Cole moved really fast. He was like…faster than I've ever seen him. And Jay's the ninja of lightning and he wasn't fast enough, you know?" Kai leaned back, staring into the darkness. "Cole's face transformed. It turned into this mask of—_grotesque formats_." A shiver rippled through Kai's masculine body. Lloyd slowly sat up with interest. "He looked like…I'm not gonna lie, he looked like a frickin' vampire. It was freaky. Then, when I went to ask Zane for help, he just kinda stood there, staring at the floor without looking at me. I tried to get his attention. I shook him, I yelled at him, nothing. He looked sad, and upset, and tortured all at once. When he finally spoke, his voice wasn't the same. It was detached. Flat. And there were _tears _in his eyes. _Tears! _Zane doesn't even have those."

"What did he say?" Lloyd asked, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyebrows furrowed.

Kai puffed out his cheeks with air. "He said, 'It's never going to be the same again.' When I asked him what that meant, he then said, 'They've betrayed us.' He kept repeating that over and over and over again. I couldn't get him to look at me.

"Then, there was you. I finally saw you on the other end of the room. You were standing there, with this white cape on over these white robes, staring at me…I called to you, but you just stared. You looked mad at me, to be honest, but I didn't know what I did. I tried to go towards you, but every step I took made the room seem longer, and eventually I learned I was going nowhere. I asked you—well, actually, I yelled it at you because you were so far away from me. Anyway, I asked you what was wrong. And you screamed at me that, 'Nothing matters anymore!' And when you did, all this havoc _exploded _in the room. Lightning and fire and ice and earthquakes just _shook _the whole place. Sorry about this, because it probably will definitely affect your image, but—then _you _started crying. And the whole time you were crying, you were making these disasters to the room. You started it on fire, and you electrocuted the light sockets, and you went _ballistic _with the ice on this random control panel that said 'Ninjago City Power' on it, and the whole thing exploded. There were earthquakes just threatening to tear the whole place down. I tried to get the other guys to help, but Zane wouldn't stop saying that 'they'—whoever 'they' is—betrayed him, and Jay and Cole wouldn't stop fighting. So I tried to get you to stop on my own."

Lloyd was frowning. This wasn't a normal dream, that was for sure. It actually sounded like a nightmare for a ninja. "And?" he pressed.

Kai made a disbelieving, scoffing noise. He leaned forward to rest his hands on his knees. "I tried everything. But you were _mad. _And hurt. And scared. So you…" He took a deep breath. "I don't know why it's such a big deal to me, 'cause it's a dream, but you hit me. Not with your hand. With your Green Ninja powers. You let them fly out of your hands and you knocked me over against the wall and screamed at me that we were 'gonna die anyway if we kept trying to stop it.' Again, I asked you what _it _was. You didn't answer."

Lloyd's frown deepened. He couldn't ever see himself doing something to hurt Kai. Rubbing the back of his neck, Lloyd tried to figure out why this dream was bugging him so much when he asked, "So where does a girl come into play?"

Kai cracked his knuckles thoughtfully. He rubbed his chin. "You stood over me, screaming at me. At that point I didn't know what else I could do other than play your punching bag. I mean, you kept smacking me with power. It didn't hurt, although it was really traumatic. So at one point, you were telling me what a crappy Green Ninja you were when this girl just randomly appeared. She slinked up behind you, unseen, quiet as the night itself." Kai's eyes unfocused. "She was way smaller than you. She couldn't have been over five-five. I remember she was wearing this long, black dress with a slit up the side," he murmured distantly, "and lacy black gloves without the fingers. Around her ankles was just a pool of shadows. It followed her wherever she went." Kai's lips parted. He looked really into what he was saying. "Her skin was pale, but a nice shade of pale. Almost as pale as Cole's, but hers had more color to it. Her cheeks were a rosy. Her hair was the deepest ebony I'd _ever _seen; she had these bangs, and they were uneven, but they fell over her right eye. Yeah. Her eyes were gray, I think, but I'm not sure. I just remember being strangely awestruck at seeing her. She looked down at me, and put a hand on your shoulder, and the second she touched you, you stopped yelling at me. You completely relaxed. And this annoying bird came flying up behind her, cawing and screeching, and it landed on her arm. It was a crow.

"I couldn't take my eyes away from her. She smiled at me, and then she looked at you, and you were completely calm when you'd just been screaming at me. She made the whole room feel different. The shadows around her feet were so black that it was just really creepy. At one point, I think you dropped something, though I can't remember what, and it fell into the shadows; when it fell inside, it just disappeared. It got sucked into the darkness. Like a black hole." Kai's brows furrowed. "I remember thinking that she could help fix us because Nya was gone. I didn't know _where, _but she wasn't there. I kept calling her the Yin of the Yang, for some reason getting this assumption that she was a really big part of 'the equation'—no, I don't know what the equation is. I don't know why. I kept thinking…" He laughed humorlessly at himself. "Don't laugh at me, or it'll be the last thing you laugh at," warned Kai, pointing a finger at Lloyd. The Green Ninja raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "But I kept on thinking that for some rhyme, some kind of strange reason—and not just thinking it, either. In my heart, it was—it was strange. I somehow just _knew _in my heart that I was supposed to _be _with her. Forever."

**PRESENT DAY**

LLOYD'S GAZE FELL on Seiko, holding fast onto his arm, calmly waiting for the little elf to be able to wrench open the door on his own. She watched the ground in front of them, unknowing that he was watching her, but he couldn't help it. So many thoughts were beginning to pour numbly within him.

_They don't like creatures of her kind. _

_I kept calling her the Yin of the Yang. I don't know why. _

_I kept thinking that for some rhyme, some kind of strange reason, that I was supposed to _be _with her. Forever._

_…darkest shade of ebony I've ever seen._

_Her skin was pale, but a nice shade of pale…_

_I've said too much!_

_You have brought someone they do not like with you._

_It was a crow._

_…It got sucked into the darkness. Like a black hole._

_She made the whole room feel different._

_Around her ankles was just a pool of shadows. It followed her wherever she went._

_…she looked at you, and you were completely calm when you'd just been screaming at me._

Underneath Seiko's small grasp, Lloyd felt calm, safe, and with someone who understood; understood what, Lloyd didn't know quite yet. She squeezed his bicep reassuringly, more for herself to make the connection that Lloyd was really still there. "You're quiet, Twinkies," she observed. "Do the screaming things got your tongue? The guy said they bite."

Lloyd blinked at her, unable to respond. As the elf got the door open, she turned her elegant face towards him, small pieces of her bangs beginning to fall from their bun behind her head. They fell over her right eye like normal. And that was when Lloyd felt like someone just shot him right in the chest, knocking the breath out of him.

He'd given up that memory because what that memory told Lloyd was just about everything he needed to know. What Kai had dreamed about that day, in the past event that Lloyd had just handed over to the Eye, was the _future. _Kai had predicted the future without even knowing it.

_I kept calling her the Yin of the Yang._

_…for some reason getting this assumption that she was a really big part of 'the equation'._

Yin. Yang. _The equation. _

Yang was the light side of the circular pattern created by his ancestors. The Yang was the_ light _side. The bright one.

The golden one.

And the Yin was the dark.

The black hole, the shadows at her feet, the crow—somehow it was part of whatever equation that was mentioned, but Lloyd had insufficient facts and details to put together one. His heart began to pound. The Eye was silent. Did it mean that Seiko was evil? _No. _She couldn't be. He would've sensed this on her by now from the multiple aura probes he'd sent her way in the weeks that they'd spent together; she was definitely a confused, angry, independent person, but she wasn't evil. Yin and Yang were distinct, different, but one can't exist without the other. Good can't exist without evil. But he knew, deep in his heart, this strange understanding within him, that Seiko _wasn't _evil, and she wasn't the villain here. It wasn't just the sensing, or the Eye, or any of that. It was a judge of _character._

So if Seiko wasn't evil, then why would she be the 'Yin of the Yang'? And why did Kai have this strange dream a month ago when none of this had happened until now?

Lloyd wasn't able to tell what was worse: The fact that he was about to march into lunch with an evil villain while thinking about his vampire friend's little sister being the 'Yin of the Yang,' or that he was disturbed greatly by the sudden realization that Kai had, without even knowing who she was, wanted to _be _with Seiko.

Forever.


	16. Chapter 15: The World Spirals Down

**So Hey, my lovely NFAN fans. :D I've been updating really slowly lately, but I assure you that all is well. To your guys' happiness: IT's SPRING BREAK! That means, more updates, and more chances to view the EPIC events leading up to the Great Battle's beginning. **

**The Autumn of Twilight is ****_also _****falling to a close as well, as of this chapter, so keep your eyes open for TAOT's final breath. Yes, the****_ book _****TAOT ended a while ago, but the real Autumn of Twilight was every crappy thing that happened to our Ninja IN the book. Comprende? :D**

**So, enjoy, and review when you're done reading, guys! I wanna hear your feedback!**

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_15. The World Spirals Down_

While the others moved rambunctiously around him, Darreth did as he was commanded, kneeling down beside the dead Annoying Orange with his legs crossed and an elongated string to help maneuver him through boredom. Wu, Misako, and a buff, angry Ripsaw challenged the tides in order to keep the flying _Bounty 2 _boarded near the shore, while the rest of the robotic army walked like zombies over the rotted planks, slowly chiseled by time. Every time a robot passed him, they had something new in their hand that was being transported into the possession of the large, unhealthy dump truck waiting just on the shore. The town of Fireman's Circle had gathered to watch the incredibly unusual spectacle. Darreth knew if he were as clueless as the rest of them, he probably would've skimmed through the same thing. A million times in passing he saw the same shaded green eyes, hooded by heavy lids. Every nindroid holding something important tossed down objects towards their companions below, who neatly piled the artifacts into a cramped but arranged collection of junk into the bed of the truck. Darreth was unimpressed with the controlled chaos.

Sylver passed him with a heavy box in hand. The young boy looked tired, to say the least; Darreth shot to his feet immediately. "Do you need help?" He asked anxiously, but his desire wasn't pinned on the hopes to help someone out. He just wanted to get away from the dead vampire chick. Frankly, she was starting to creep him out, like her ghost was parading around Darreth's personal space with her small fingertips skimming across the back of his neck. Every hair on his body stood pin straight, and for what reason he didn't know, but was terrified to find out. He didn't quite understand why Wu had commanded him through the veil of a poker face to remain at Kiko's side until told otherwise, but he found himself unable to reject the fierce order. To his consternation, Sylver gave a brisk shake of his head, continuing towards the edge of the boat as though Darreth had never spoken. He sighed. Okay. So that's how the ship was run, then. He took a seat beside the corpse once more to wallow.

The girl called Dani was being overthrown by Caroline, some robot boy called Leo Waters, and Ripsaw, who'd abandoned his job of keeping the boat in place to assist the redhead. Dani was wailing angrily, loudly, and had a certain feverish thrash to her body that kept her just able to wrestle with her guards. On either side, Leo and Ripsaw held tightly onto her arms, held straight out, forcing her to stay in place while Caroline overlooked from the front. Darreth's hands itched to help the subtle blonde, but the compulsion to stay where Wu told him to won the battle. He watched helplessly while Caroline gave a low chuckle with a bitter grin.

"Oh, _Danielle," _she whispered to the struggling girl. Ripsaw and Leo fastened their grips onto the android's wrists, locking her hands from the angry fists they made. Dani glared into Caroline's hazel eyes angrily. In fact, come to think of it, Caroline was the only one aboard this ship whose eyes never overtook the serious transformation that came with the deadly viper's venom. Darreth shivered, remembering the way Leo had appeared with the syringes of green, bubbling liquid, catching everyone by surprise in the secret room just under the main deck. Darreth, certainly, had been shocked when somehow the dark skinned man hadn't been overtaken by any of the more powerful droids. He'd managed to open every control panel within the stomachs and chests of his brethren to stuff inside the syringe's contents. Afterwards, a very crude transformation outdid those who were violated by whatever masterpiece of evil Caroline had commanded he deal out without hesitation. Darreth didn't want to think about the stab of the needle into his own veins. After that, he obeyed with doing whatever Caroline had told him to do…which, as it turned out, included a long list of tasks allowing Wu to be his slave driver while she was away. He found himself sickening at the thought.

Bringing Darreth to the present, Dani shrieked. Though she'd been hit up with whatever drugs that sailed through the brown ninja's veins, she seemed impervious to the impending darkness. Thrashing constantly in a war she was never going to win, not with two incredibly strong robots at her sides and an equally as badass redhead to pointer her triangle of death. Darreth uncomfortably struggled while Dani was attacked by Caroline's almost feline smile. "Dani, you know I've never been your biggest fan," she began coolly.

"And you know the feeling has always been mutual," spat Dani through the sheen of tangled golden hair that now veiled her face from Darreth's view. "I always knew you were up to no good. What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you doing this? How could you do this to _Zane?" _

Darreth closed his eyes briefly. The ninja had been hauled off the _Bounty 2 _immediately after their unkempt downfall in a dog catcher's pen. The dark, square car resembled a hearse more than a moving gas chamber. He had a sinking feeling he was never going to see those ninja again.

It made him sad and grateful all at once. The phantom of jealousy moved inside of his stomach. Darreth had always known his position was a _friend _to the world savers, rather than _one _of the world savers, as much as they may have tried to make him believe. He didn't occupy a position where he was admired for his talent. This is what was amplified by the coarse green evil that bred inside of his veins, expanding with every beat of his heart. Every time it rumbled in his ears it brought another pint into the grasp of evil. Soon, every drop of blood in Darreth's body would be completely consumed by darkness, leaving him nothing but an outer cocoon of who Grand Sensei Darreth had once been. A man who stole the looks of the beloved "sensei," but no longer correlated the true soul of him within itself. It was tragic and understandable all at once.

His heart beat inside of him, and yet another four ounces of blood were eaten away by green, condensed _evil. _

"It's called _not caring _anymore," Caroline answered. "It actually is way better than the latter."

Dani howled with anger, erupting a fight against her constraints, but the battle was obviously lost. "You're crazy! How can you think I'd just join you and your stupid evil attempts?!"

Caroline pursed her lips, tilting her body slightly in indication that she was getting bored. The body language also made Dani thrash harder when she knew something awful was coming. Darreth, too, knew there was darkness ahead. "I didn't, really, but it was worth a try. You're useless to me now, Dani, seeing that the venom doesn't work. Oh, well, an overlooked pity."

"That venom," gasped the plain, golden blonde with her hair still pooling in a waterfall over her face. She whipped it away with a quick shake of her head. "Where did—?"

"The Devourer's venom," answered Caroline matter-of-factly. Dani gasped audibly. "It took over Garmadon once. It can just as easily take over all of you. Maybe except poor, stupid Danielle, who never got the chance to join the Seven. Oh, well. I'll just add you to the scrap pile with Rikku and Ming…" Caroline reached for Dani's shirt, but the other girl began to scream shrilly.

"_WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!" _she screamed, but Caroline snapped her fingers at Leo and Ripsaw, commanding a tighter grip onto the girl. Darreth watched in fading horror since he didn't have any other way to react. Caroline yanked up Dani's shirt briskly and, with a swift motion, tore open the control panel flanking her flat stomach; Dani's crystalline eyes widened in fear. "No!" She cried, but Caroline just gave an eerily deadly smile, one last taking into the pretty blonde's view, a final sight to be seen before death.

"Sorry, Dani," she said quietly, "but you'll be a bit of a problem if you hang around any longer. It was nice knowing you," Caroline answered. Then, sticking her hand within, Caroline ignored Dani's shrieks—of pain or fear, Darreth would never know. She grabbed a hold of Dani's shoulder and, with a grimace of strength, tore into something within the panel obstructed from Darreth's view. The shrieks died immediately as Caroline ripped out a large chunk of something within Dani's control panel.

Dani's head fell limply, just like the rest of her powerless, dead body. She slumped in the hands of Ripsaw and Leo, unmoving, useless. Caroline tossed aside the wiry chunk of technology she had dismembered from Dani with a disgusted scowl. She wiped her slick hands on her jeans. "Go put her in a coffin with Zane's old body," she commanded to Ripsaw and Leo. "After that, we'll dump the bodies into the ocean. Deal?"

"Aye, aye, lass," Ripsaw replied tonelessly. He and Leo dragged Dani down the steps, her limp feet causing loud noises to echo against the staircase's walls as they took her away into death.

Darreth wasn't sure of his lack of reaction. He assumed that it was because of the venom. But he also was weary—a prickle began on the back of his neck. While beginning to address the situation, a certain British accent cackled throughout the main deck, and though it scared Darreth, every other person seemed unfazed. Caroline turned with a triumphant smile just as purple Pythor hauled himself over the side of the deck.

"Marvelous!" He laughed, spreading his arms wide. Caroline bowed mannishly. "That's three in just a few hours?"

"Two," corrected Caroline. Her expression darkened. "I was told not to kill Rikku completely, although I can assure you Ming will not raise again. Again, a pity. I actually enjoyed Ming's company. But I gave them a choice. They chose the worse path."

Pythor slithered across the dark wood, his tail lashing against the air with sickening whips. His shoulders rose to fall in a weak shrug. "There are always more," concluded the snake happily. "Your father knows well of the Tomb, does he not?"

"Of course he does!" Caroline snapped. She observed the hubbub of the ship with crossed arms and pursed lips. "For heavens' sake, he designed the Tombs, didn't he? Don't worry about it, Pythor. Father isn't a threat anymore. He's pretty much crazy now, thanks to Zane and his spontaneous indecisions on whether to stay dead or not. In fact, he doesn't even know or care what's happening right now. But that doesn't matter," she concluded darkly. "I'll lead you to the Tombs, as I promised Eloquim. We'll release the rest of the Clockwork Army, and we can finally begin to release what hell we wish to have."

Pythor's chuckle sent chills running laps up Darreth's spine. He pulled his knees to his chin and buried his cheek into his folded arms. "It will be _delight_ful," Pythor agreed, waving to the space around him, consumed by constant energy. "Did I say, Eloquim sent the Devourer into the desert?"

Caroline glanced at him, startled. "What for?" She inquired.

Pythor's red tongue flickered between his teeth. "It went to consume Ouroboros," he explained. "Then it will travel downwards until it eats this place whole—by of which time we will be gone. When it returns to Ninjago City, it will be even larger! I'm just glad he was able to tame that beast with his magical…demon powers. I couldn't imagine what life it would be if I got eaten again…" Pythor shivered all the way down to the tip of his tail. "He's also beginning the excavation."

Caroline's interest peaked. Darreth listened in curiosity, like a child mesmerized by bedtime stories. She made an approving expression. "_Rea_lly?" She annunciated. "Did the Overlord tell him exactly where the Key is hidden? Or did the map?"

"Mmm, I do believe they were judging by the map, but the Overlord deciphered most of it," Pythor mused thoughtfully. He tapped his claws to his wide lips. "I am sure, though, once the load arrives after we've sunk this ship, he'll be interested to see what treasures we've brought."

"I would think he'd be equally as interested—if not more—in the Ninja. Do you know what he's doing with them?"

Pythor shook his head. "He's being quiet," he answered, "but I do believe it will be rather extravagant, don't you?"

Darreth felt the prickle on the back of his neck before his brain righteously processed it. He had the urge within his body to turn around. It was the _fight or flight _instinct trying to contemplate his moves again. With a quick twist, Darreth expected himself to face a long dead corpse of the Annoying Orange. Instead, he came face to face with the _un_dead corpse's eyes, now alive and gleaming again.

Kiko rose herself into a sitting position, wiggling her neck to test its efficiency. Darreth gaped. "The Original Vampire can't be killed, dumbass," Kiko snapped, "no matter what anyone does. I'm invincible." She flexed her fingers, lengthening the claws that were able to tear out eyes within seconds of a breath. Darreth couldn't find himself scared enough to take flight against Wu's strangely compelling order. He frowned. "Actually, I think you're in the right place at the right time," concluded Kiko with a grin after smoothing down her blood red locks. "You know, dying makes me _terribly _thirsty."

Then Darreth understood why he was sitting there, why he wasn't able to move until Wu told him otherwise. He searched his brain wildly to become frightened, but there was no more fear, replaced by an empty determination to follow as told. He blinked at Kiko's converting expression, the veins beneath her eyes becoming visible, crawling across her thin cheekbones. Her eyes became blacker than night, and with a slow grin, her lips pulled back from the shiny, thin fangs that were determined to do their job. Darreth swallowed the beating of his heart in his throat.

"Sorry about this, O Great Brown One," Kiko said shamelessly, "but I think you'll be sacrificing enough, don't you?"

Without waiting for another word, Kiko dove, and drank until she'd sucked the brown ninja dry.

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**PLEASE REVIEW, guys, cause it makes me happy. :{D **

**What do you think will happen next? **

**And go have an ****_awesome _****day/night! **

**–Kairi **


	17. Chapter 16: Torture by Dreams, Part 1

**NOTE:**** These next couple of chapters are based around the ninja's worst nightmares, which Eloquim is giving them with his powers. ****KEEP IN MIND**** that Kai did have a prophetic dream once…One of the three dreams mentioned today WILL happen in the future of NFAN: TKOD. Which will it be? :} *devilish grin* ENJOY!**

_16. Torture By Dreams Pt.1_

**Torture By Dreams—Part One:  
****YOUR WORST NIGHTMARES**

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**JAY  
****_I dream of being…eaten._**

JAY FIGURED HE had problems with his eyes until he realized that every time they were open, there was no difference between his eyelids and the actual world around him; it was hard to filter through the cruddy black veil around him. His hands were tied tightly behind his back, his knees tucked rudely underneath of him so they slowly numbed from dying circulation. His head bowed forward every time he ducked in and out of consciousness. The road to their destination was too bumpy for its own good. Jay was forcibly tossed against the wall more than once because of the rocky roads that the driver had taken. He couldn't seem to completely wrap his head around what had happened other than fragmented memories, fermenting in his brain like a wolf's howls.

Maybe every creepy, unusual thing he'd seen was just a dream. Maybe when he'd seen Cole turn into a vampire, it was just something he'd been randomly thinking about while hanging out in the kitchen. Maybe when he'd seen insanity actually come true ahead of him, it was just a _what if _scenario that really didn't exist. Maybe he was sitting in bed right now, and this was all part of some crazy dream he seemed to be having.

Or maybe Jay was lying to himself.

Shivers crept up his spine. His eyelids felt heavy. For some reason, Jay thought he was inhaling something that smelled creepily like women's perfume, but stronger than anything he'd ever actually consumed respitorially before. Before too long of awaking from a dying dream, Jay found himself collapsing closer into a sleep that attacked him for more complete hours of doom. He couldn't seem to escape the images burning into his brain that made him see Cole, chin soaked with blood, lifting his face from Jay's throat with a triumphant, happy smile on his lips…

**GARMADON  
****_I dream of haveing to be a father_**

_Lloyd. _

His dreams were strangely tainted with his son's glistening white form. Though it was extremely hard to understand, Garmadon kept finding himself falling into a dark room where his son sat, cross-legged, in the middle, wearing a pair of pants made exquisitely from silk, bathed a white color by dye. Lloyd's shirt always was missing. It made Garmadon less than comfortable, more confused, and worried, for that matter. His son's toned abdomen glistened with the bulk of sweat. Lloyd's golden-haloed head was tilted backwards, giving way to the full extent of his throat, tightened with its backward arch. He seemed to be concentrating, but Garmadon could never be comfortable with letting his son sit so quietly. In every replica of the same dream that followed him, Garmadon ran towards his son, footsteps echoing lightly in their captivity to where Lloyd sat dreamily, bathed in a swath of golden light. Lloyd's eye, as it had a million times before in this dream, popped open to watch his father, annoyed.

"Yeah, Dad?" Politely, his son would respect the fact that for whatever reason Garmadon had run into him, it had to be important. Garmadon always felt a pang when hearing his son call him _Dad. _Did he deserve the title? No, but if Lloyd wanted that heartwarming experience to huddle them both, then he would willingly comply. Garmadon felt his old bones tremble when he stopped his jog in front of his son.

Ever since Lloyd disappeared, Garmadon had this dream. It never changed, never swayed past normal routine, which was a given after having it so many times. The old man knew what was coming from his lips better than he knew how many wrinkles ruptured his aged face. "Lloyd," he gasped, panting as though he'd run a marathon, "you're in danger. Let me help you. You're playing with fire, son, and you're going to get burned."

Garmadon said this without knowing what he was referring to. It was like some sort of phantom used his lips, his voice, his breath to speak foreign words that _should've _held bigger meaning to him. He clung to them hoping there was some big reveal in them every time he spoke their uninteresting majesties. He prayed that with every same conversation, Garmadon himself would earn some kind of new experience from it, take away from his leave some sort of knowledge as to where his son was. Instead, it was like staring at a piece of white paper. You knew that every time you stared at it, you would see the same exact thing. Paper was an unexciting enough example to use; there was never anything that was different about plain, white paper, no matter what sheet you looked at.

"Sure, Dad," Lloyd chuckled to himself, his voice a purr. As always, he never took his father seriously. In the case of this dream, that is. "Whatever you say."

"No, Lloyd," gasped the former evil lord, watching his son's eye close to seep into meditation again. But Garmadon felt that same overwhelming need to get his point across. Dipping low, he grabbed his son's bare shoulders, startled at how strong they were beneath his palms. He felt desperate. How could he let his son get away, knowing there would be pain in his future if he didn't get his point across? Both of Lloyd's eyes came to open this time. The Green Ninja watched him curiously. "I mean it. You're in danger, and I think I'm the only one who can help you."

"Dad, really. It's not…You don't need to get all protective." As though Garmadon's tight grip was equal to a child's, Lloyd plucked off his sweaty hands by the wrists, pushing them away gently to Garmadon could have them back. "I can take care of myself. I have been all my life, remember?"

Garmadon's heart began to pound worse than it had the day he married Misako. For him, that had been agonizing enough; he had been too scared a man—despite how powerful he portrayed himself to be, and that's what he figured lured Misako into his grasp in the first place—to actually not get jitters on his own wedding day. Lloyd didn't seem to notice how desperate he was. "No, son," he begged quietly, "please. You must understand. I'll find you, Lloyd, and I'll help you…Just don't get into trouble, don't play with powers you don't understand. They will hurt you."

Lloyd glanced up at him, working as on schedule. A slick sheen of sweat sparkled over his lightly muscled chest. Garmadon didn't quite know how he was supposed to control the fatherly panic he knew was coming. After all, that was usually how this dream escaped.

But this time, Lloyd had a mind of his own. "I know, Dad," he said quietly, taking Garmadon off guard. He hadn't actually said that last time. His expression softened—yet another rebellious detour to the agenda—at his father's paternal instincts. "And it's okay." He touched Garmadon's shoulder while the older man could only gape. "I can do this."

"You're—playing with dangers," coughed Garmadon unsurely. He felt warm underneath his son's hand.

Lloyd nodded slowly. His eyes told Garmadon everything of sorrow. He removed his hands to rest them into his lap, posture still equally erect, yet his shoulder line slowly sagged like a weight of a million had been added to the air. "I know," he repeated quietly. "But I'm not doing this alone."

"Of course not!" Garmadon gasped. His feverish insides wriggled uncomfortably. There was profound thuds to his irregular heartbeat that caused him to feel dizzy. Something about today was becoming special, because Garmadon not only was warned by the asymmetrical twist to his naturally occurring dream, but also to the way his bones began to shutter. He felt like he was floating. Suspended in midair, caught between…something big and something equally as big. He just didn't know what. "You have me."

"Actually," Lloyd interjected, rubbing his wrist, "I wasn't referring to you, but it's nice to know you're supportive." Before Garmadon could feel offended, Lloyd continued. "I'm in a completely different dimension, Dad. I can't tell you how I got there, or why I'm there, but I am, and I probably would've been dead if I hadn't gotten a little help."

"Help from who?" pried Garmadon. He wondered if the Ninja were causing some kind of secret missions behind everyone's back. Did that imply that they knew where Lloyd was?

Lloyd cracked his knuckles, but refused to meet Garmadon's eyes. He wouldn't see why his son couldn't look him in the face, though obviously admitting it made him uncomfortable. His golden haired son blinked at a point beyond the former lord's head. "Look, she might not be up your alley, but—"

_"She?" _

"—But she saved my life," Lloyd sustained as though Garmadon had never interjected. "She kept me alive when I was unconscious after we arrived. And I somehow feel like she knows what it's like."

"Knows what _what's _like?" Garmadon managed to gasp out. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, even if trapped in a strangely twisted dream. Was his son actually saying this to him?

Lloyd finally succeeded to make his eyes connect with his father's disheveled, disbelieving brown ones. It looked like it took effort, but as ever, his son was determined to make himself be heard. "Knows what it's like to be all alone in the world," he said defiantly. "She knows how it feels to be left alone. She knows how scared it makes me, because she's walked that road all her life like I have. It's like I'm her only friend, Dad," Lloyd murmured softly, eyes pleading. "And out of the two of us, _I _know what it's like not to have any."

Garmadon's sense of floating became heavier, his soul flying higher above his real body than it actually was when tied to his form. Frowning at both this and his son's strange declaration, he couldn't help but wonder: Who was this mysterious friend he was talking about? Was this all just a dream anyway, to where whatever said could he merely look over like the rest of the silly dreams Garmadon had? Clueless how to handle such a situation, Garmadon figured it be best to let the river flow without trying to block it with a dam before he knew where it pooled into. He fidgeted uncomfortably.

Lloyd sighed heavily, his breath coming through like an expert on sighing. "I just need you to know that I'm okay, Dad," he said softly, catching his father's eye. "I'm okay. And we'll see each other soon, alright?"

"Soon?" Garmadon croaked. He gave a humorless laugh. "How soon?"

Lloyd pursed his lips, considering it through the scrutiny of his mind's eye. He stared at a spot over Garmadon's shoulder. Apparently, this needed some consideration. Garmadon squirmed again without quite knowing why he was so uncomfortable. He was unsure of what he was supposed to say anymore; before, the path had been all laid out, everything matching as it usually would've when he fell into this dream. But now it seemed like it was too difficult to know what should be said. It proved how inexperienced he was as a father.

When Misako had first told him she was pregnant, he had wanted to run. Of course he did. It had taken a whole lot of coaxing from himself to learn that having a son would be one of the best opportunities to come to his waxed life; and in the long run, Garmadon had been right. He was more proud of Lloyd than anyone would ever know. But not once had he had the time to sit down with his son and _be _a father, which now caused the domino effects that now burdened, his chaliced inexperience widowing his usual determination. Garmadon fiddled with his fingers. But right now, there was no understanding how normal people actually dealt with these things, because, well, Garmadon couldn't ever remember being normal.

Lloyd tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I'd give you…mmm…sixty seconds."

Garmadon's brows furrowed. He paused. Twenty seconds? Had he heard that right? He opened his mouth to question Lloyd's assumption, but his son held up a bare finger. "No, I meant that," he said, clearing away misconceptions. Garmadon blinked. "I've got some help with this thing on my hand, and it tells me things..." Lloyd held out the mark for his father to view, the gasps and awestruck noises carrying away twelve of the twenty seconds in the time slot Lloyd gave him. His son withdrew his hand. "Look, I can explain later. But let's just say you're going to fall into a _really big crack _in the earth, and you'll find me there, okay?" Garmadon began to feel worse in the floating department. His mind shriveled, almost dying in the process of understanding. Lloyd reached out to hold onto his father. There were spare moments to plead. Flashing in his eyes, Lloyd ignited a spark that made Garmadon see that there was desperation in his mind. "And do me a favor? When you get the chance, can you tell Kai I'm okay? I—I don't want him to worry about me."

Garmadon never got the chance. The whirring feeling within his soaring brain exploded into supernovas, opening veins, popping nerves. Fireworks shut his eyes, and their glory pulled him upwards even before he had a chance to understand just how much Lloyd wanted him to—

**KAI  
****_I dream of being useless_**

"Don't worry, Cole. I've got this."

"_Sure _you do. I really, really doubt that. Actually, I think it's completely _stupid!" _The black ninja whirled on him, fury bursting out his feet as beneath them, an earthquake rippled throughout the charred ground. Zane blinked in silent observation of the event, while Jay squeaked into jumping. Kai pursed his lips. He had to meet Cole's livid eyes levelly to avoid betraying what he _really _felt inside: A burning, heated fixture of flames, preparing to launch out of his body at any second in attack against his brother, his friend. Kai's fists wouldn't stop their clench/unclench cycle.

"Sorry my plans didn't fit into yours," he said through his teeth. Cole narrowed his eyes from the distance away he stood, with the sun dying in the horizon. Its death illuminated his strong form. With his arms crossed over his chest, the earthbound ninja glared down the fire-breathing one, part of an intense, angry expression, about to fly between them. Zane and Jay had to watch from the sidelines with nothing to propel them forward.

"_Your _plans. Exactly what got you here, Kai." Cole snarled. He used his hands to gesture through the air. "You're always screwing up _The _Plan—the one we're supposed to FOLLOW—because you get 'better ideas.' Don't you _get _it? You're too _impulsive! _You don't think before you do things, Kai! I could just _kill _you right now! Do you not understand how big a mistake you made?!" Cole whirled on his heel, stalking into a dead pace, wearing a rut into the ground beneath them. The battle-scarred plantation beneath their feet breathed gray smoke into the air from its intoxicating fumes, pores spewing the recent news that the land was dead…again. Kai glanced through the blackened field wondering how it had all even happened, although obviously with his fire. He glanced at his bare hands, then clenched them out of sick fury. It was no question what had happened; Kai had let himself think on his own again. Every time he did so, something awful happened, whether it be the big reveal that he and his friends were sneaking up on the enemy, or the spontaneous combustion of a cherished field. He caught Zane wistfully watching the fields again. It made his heart wrench.

"Not only did you just burn down the only piece of memory at his old life that Zane had, you just let the enemy get twenty-four robots _into its possession," _Cole yelled. Kai winced at the loud shout. "Do you _think _they needed any more than the ones they already had? You let them open the flipping Tomb—hell, if anything, you _helped _them open it! I don't know if you've noticed or not, Kai, but our odds aren't exactly even." Cole's voice dropped to the glare he now gave Kai. Kai tried not to look into the hard silver gaze. "It's five ninjas to a hundred robots, evil ice ninjas, snakes, skeletons, indestructible statues, demons, and vampires. Gee, what're the odds?" He threw up his hands. "Garmadon is _gone, _Nya is _kidnapped, _and we don't have a flying-flipping-fruitbasket where Lloyd is. We're hopeless! That tomb full of robots was our _last hope, _Kai, and you just _blew _it again!"

Kai hung his head, feeling every word stab into his already raw wounds. It was always Kai who screwed everything up, wasn't it? There were those brief missions when he actually came to be one of the more useful items in the basket, but instead today he found there was nothing but empty-handed wicker. He glanced at the scorched earth again. He was so reckless, he'd just destroyed the place where Zane grew up with Julien and the other droids without even pausing to think about everyone else. He'd almost killed Jay with the flames he'd forced outwards to knock out the snakes and skeletons already trying to come at them. Little did Kai try to notice, the Tomb had already been opened, and all those robots had gotten out…

"You're such an idiot sometimes," Cole said defeatedly. "You really are."

"You need to think about more than just you," Jay added angrily. He stood straighter. His position beside Cole then took on a more demeaning glare, a worse scowl. Kai shriveled under the way his brothers now glared at him. "You never do, though; you're what got Nya kidnapped in the first place."

"I wish you would stop to think about what you are doing," Zane put in. His shoulders didn't rise, but through the defeat, Kai could see there was agreement in his eyes. He was hurting—that much was visible in his posture—but there was always that part of Zane managing to forge through the darkness provided to their likes. He felt like he'd let them down rudely, too quickly. He hadn't thought about them; that much of their lecture was true. He was only thinking about the odds.

The odds that worked against him.

"I know guys, and I'm—I'm sorry." Kai pleaded with them. "I know, and I'll try to work on these things better—"

"I think that you've done this enough, Kai," Cole snarled. His face contorted into anger again. "I can't lose anything else because of you and your idiocy."

"No."

"_No _more," Jay whispered softly, his eyes hard. "No more pain…"

"If you just—"

"Go," said Zane loudly. Kai glanced at him, startled to find that his gentle brother was staring coldly at the ground. Kai felt his hands tremble. "I said, GO. We don't need you anymore."

"B-but…you _need _me."

"Need you to what?" Jay scoffed. His eyes glinted shamelessly. "Ruin our lives some more? No, thanks, dude, I'll pass."

"Jay, Cole, Zane—_please—" _

"Too late!" they shouted simultaneously. Kai stared in pain, and shock. "Too late, too late, _too late…."_

**ELOQUIM **

Feeding from their pain although they were far away, Eloquim reached forward under the safety of his cloak to grab for the comforting grip of his new weapon. He would've filled you in on the gritty details of combining the golden weapons, but that would've been pointless, and stupid. If there was anything Eloquim hated more than improper grammar, it was describing the world to someone who so plainly should've been able to see it themselves. He clasped the stem of his blooming magnificence. The gold was smooth against his hand. With this weapon, Eloquim could do _anything. _He could create any army he wanted, could wreak whatever havoc he desired, all for the sake of a wish. He hadn't tried it out yet, but there was an everlasting hope that he could soon be able to attempt usage with this new, sparkling advantage.

The Overlord wound around his head in slow, steady circles. Eloquim stroked the Mega Weapon's hilt with a gentle caress, fearing dropping it to cause a dainty scratch. The pulsing light had many ideas, but unfortunately, there wasn't always a great deal of smarts into his, er, mind. "Could I wish for the location of the Shadow Key to be revealed to me?" he wondered aloud.

"I haven't ever seen this thing before, so I couldn't answer that."

"Thanks for your help." Bitterly, Eloquim glared at the purpling orb. "What _can _I wish for, then? Are there rules? Where is my rule book?"

"I wouldn't think there would be," hissed the Overlord. "After all, a weapon of this great power couldn't be completely contained, could it?" There was the sound of noise on the barren street out the back door of the herbal shop Eloquim had forcibly taken over. The old female shopkeeper rested in pieces on the floor; stepping over her, Eloquim was satisfied to see that Skales had returned with the same container used to hold in dogs, rickety and black against the road. There must not have been a big difference between dogs and ninjas, he thought to himself, grinning. Setting aside his curiosity, Eloquim watched out the window towards the portable dog cell. A smile pulled at his lips.

"Perhaps you can use the ninja as your lab rats," suggested the Overlord just as Eloquim thought it. "After all, what's the point in having no fun while we have it?"

Eloquim's grip tightened on the Mega Weapon's hilt. He smiled devilishly. "As I thought," he presumed, dusting away invisible dirt from the weapon's head. He blinked at the Overlord. "And my wish most certainly will leave them clueless…" A light flicked on inside of him. His grin deepened in the company of the Overlord.

"When I'm done with them, none of these poor suckers will even have the brains to remember their real names."

**Please review, guys! I love you for it!**


	18. Chapter 17: Torture By Dreams, Part 2

**I was gonna smush Zane and Cole's nightmares in here, too, but then I realized that Nya needed her own cliffhanger. Plus, her dream is kinda long, but I'm sure you guys will love it. So, next chapter, TORTURE BY DREAMS PART 3, will have Zane and Cole's nightmares in there, too. :3 Let's see what you guys think of Nya's nightmare…**

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_17. Torture by Dreams, Pt. 2_

**NYA  
****_I dream of not understanding_**

JAY RUBBED THE tender spot where her jaw met her neck, affectionately brushing his lips across her skin. It ignited fires within Nya that she hardly knew had ever existed. The course his mouth made drew invisible patterns along her jugular, warming the inside of her heart by the dignity of his touch. Running her hands through his hair, Nya reveled in the way he held her. Never once in her life had her heart been thundering so loudly, with him so close to her, his skin pressed against hers in the anxious brushes. She grinned against his cheek.

"Did you know that I love you?" he whispered in her ear, kissing her throat.

Nya felt a girlish giggle escape her throat, despite the fact that she hated doing that. Winding her fingers through the forest of his auburn hair, pulling him closer, she responded equally as secretively, if not a little worse. "I don't think I did," she answered quietly. "Remind me, again?"

Jay smiled, putting his mouth to hers, and the world faded away. Her mind soared through a high of tasting all of him: tasting his mouth, the way he smelled like lotion, loving the feel of his soft skin underneath her hands. She rubbed his shoulders, glad they weren't tense and strained. Jay was relaxed. As long as he was happy, so was she. With a quiet gasp, Nya kissed him again. Never had she thought in her life she'd meet someone who loved her so much, someone she could give back to with equal—and practically _greater—_doses of love. She enjoyed being able to intoxicate him with the feelings inside of her. Her heart pounding, Nya played with his earlobe as he kissed her neck again, feeling the loss of his lips on hers.

There was a sound from beyond them. Nya jumped; without expecting any disruptions, she hadn't anticipated there would be _visitors. _She gave angry groan and hoped it wasn't Kai who was trying to barge in…

It wasn't. Nya turned her head with a gasp of shock.

Cole glared back.

"What are _you _doing here?" Jay asked coolly. His tone surprised Nya. She'd expected him to be a little angrier that their kissing session had been destroyed by the earth ninja, but he looked almost bored, unfazed by the fact that, well, they'd just been interrupted. He blinked with half lids at his brother.

Blushing, Nya watched Cole scowl. "I hate you for it, you know," he said. Nya frowned. _Hated him for what?_ She wondered, latching her hand onto Jay's sweatshirt, hoping to pull him closer instead of the recoil he was preparing for. Underneath her hands, Jay softened a little.

"I know, but I'm not sorry," Jay said quietly. He rubbed Nya's stomach tenderly. She tried not to shiver with the way it felt _so good._ "I don't think she is, either."

"Sorry for what?" Nya asked, breathless. Jay kissed the hollow space at the base of her throat. His lips sent shivers crawling down her arms.

Ignoring her, Cole flopped down on the ground. Nya finally realized they were in a _meadow, _of all places, surrounded by bright green grasses waving goodbye to the passing winds, encircled by multiple flowers of an array of soft colors. Cole looked extremely out of place, a black-clad form in the middle of a natural canvas of beauty, although Nya wasn't willing to deny that he was beautiful enough to outdo every single rose, lily, tulip, and calla around her. With his knees bent and elbows resting on their towers, Cole's hands dangled uselessly between his legs, his face a grimace of multiple emotions. Instantly Nya felt bad. She didn't know why, but she felt sympathetically pathetic towards him. She withdrew a hand from Jay to reach for him.

Cole looked down at her, gray eyes observantly questioning. She grabbed the end of his sweatshirt with a kind tug. "Don't look so sad," she whispered.

"Why not?" Cole asked quietly. He sniffed while disconnecting their gaze, ripping something out of Nya, although she couldn't exactly figure out what it was he'd taken. Frowning, Nya tugged his shirt again.

"You have nothing to be sad for," she said softly. Cole snorted.

"Sure, sweetheart. Whatever you say."

Nya felt her heart twist. He wasn't happy, then. For whatever reason, she felt that deep within her heart, like someone took a knife and twisted it through her organs. Nya didn't have a clue why she felt the overwhelming urge to make sure he was happy. Poking him, she tried to get him to look at her, but the black ninja tore away his presence by getting swiftly to his feet. Nya felt like someone slapped her; the loss of his warmth made her feel cold inside. "Where are you going?" She asked when he started to walk away.

"Home!" He called.

"Home?" Nya gently shook Jay's shoulders. He glanced up at her through half-lidded eyes. "Jay, get up. We have to go get him. Something's wrong."

Jay rolled his eyes, but removed the sweet line of his body pressed against hers. Nya's nerves didn't quite want to slow their exuberant thrumming just yet, not even after he was gone. Muttering, Jay pulled himself to his feet, then outstretched his beautiful hand for her to take; she pulled herself up with his help. Nya refused to let go of his hand as she ran after Cole, who was already miles away from them, despite the short time frame it had taken her to stand. Nya kicked through the small lilies tickling her bare legs beneath her dress. "Cole!" She shouted after him. "Cole! Stop!"

He paused atop a hill to look down at her. Jay swore as a rose's thorn sliced his feet. Nya couldn't stop the smile that came with the sight of Cole—even though her boyfriend was right behind her—being haloed by the golden rays of the sun's embrace. Cole's bushy brow rose.

"Cole!" Nya gasped, trudging up the hill. She let go of Jay's hand to pull herself up. For some reason, the hill was extremely steep, more of a cliff than a hill, actually. Only, cliffs weren't covered in beautiful, tall grass and flowers. She hauled herself to the peak with a grunt of satisfaction. Her feet hit the flat surface as she stood up beside Cole.

He winked. "Hello, princess. Couldn't let me go, could you?"

"You're hurt," Nya observed with a wave of her hand. Cole frowned. "I don't want you to hurt, so I followed you."

Cole rubbed his chin thoughtfully as Jay pulled himself to the top of the hill. He wasn't panting at all, unlike Nya; in fact, he swiftly hauled himself over the edge and onto his feet without so much as a bead of sweat. He grabbed her hand possessively. Cole rolled his eyes. "Why'd you bring your watchdog?" Cole asked irritably.

"I couldn't just _leave _him," Nya answered after a pause, startled. At the sight of Jay, Cole seemed to stiffen. Tensing his muscles, he crossed his arms over his black-shirted chest, shaking his black hair from his eyes. "Why? What's the matter with me bringing Jay?"

Cole didn't answer that, either. His gaze traveled downwards of her eyes, and he grinned. "You're expecting, I see. That's nice."

Nya grimaced as she glanced down at her extremely pregnant stomach, more pregnant than it had been a minute ago. She looked as though nine months had travelled by in just a matter of tedious seconds it took to climb up here. Nya hadn't felt the difference in her stomach before, but now she winced at the weight. It was heavier than she thought. It had to weigh at least twenty pounds. Letting go of Jay's hand to cradle her stomach with both her own, Nya looked up at Cole to see him looking more satisfied by the growing time. She panted. "What's the look for?" She questioned. He grinned again, white teeth sparkling.

"See for yourself," he gestured with his hand towards something to their side. There, across from them, was a rectangular, human length mirror, showing Nya from the side view. She winced again at how fat she was. In a perfect mirror image of her disheveled self, Nya's hands wrapped protectively around her belly, shielding its contents from the world surrounding her. Her eyes were far too wide to look serious. She tried to fix the issue while settling her gaze on Cole's mirror image. He wasn't watching her reflection, though. He was watching the _real _her with a tender, sad gaze that she didn't think he knew she saw. Nya tried not to let it get to her. _He's being sympathetic, _she thought shakily, _because you're pregnant, and really fat, and…he feels your pain. _

But she wasn't convinced. She looked at Jay. He smiled at her encouragingly.

"We'll be great parents," he told her.

"Ah, ah, ah," Cole wagged his finger at him. Nya turned to the _real _Cole with a concerned expression, watching her mirror-self mimic the actions out the corner of her eye. Cole's smirk was haughty. "We're not playing this game."

"What game?" Nya asked. She was thrown out of the loop while Jay knew exactly what Cole was referring to, when she didn't have any idea what was happening. She turned to her boyfriend with a frown. "Jay?"

"You can't run off with _my _kid," Jay snarled. He looked angry. "No way. I don't care if you think you rightfully own it, but you're _not—_and I mean NOT—taking my child from me."

Cole rolled his eyes. "I won't take yours, you idiot—I'll take _mine." _Cole pointed to the mirror again. This time, when Nya turned, she was looking at a completely different image. She saw herself, of course, but this time, she was no longer pregnant. Instead, she smiled at herself devilishly, her hair much longer than it really was, extending lengths down her back in beautiful, pin-straight locks. Nya admitted she looked _older _than she was now, more curvy, and a knowing twinkle in her eye. She wore a brilliant, white gown: it was plain, with no straps, and reached her feet in elegant pools. In her hands, she held a single red rose. On either side of her, she saw two completely different people. With a gasp, Nya realized it was Jay and Cole, although something about them seemed much older. Jay's face wasn't as clean, worn more by time than it was now, yet he still held his boyish looks somewhere inside; his eyebrow was still scarred. The different, reflection Jay gave the real Nya a soft smile. His tuxedo was a plain white, matching hers, with a blue flower tucked in his lapel. His hands were clasped in front of him expectantly.

Cole, on the other hand, looked exactly the same, ageless. His skin was still flawless, his silver eyes still the young shade they were now. His hair was longer, though, to his shoulders; and despite that his physical form held no deviation, he looked wiser, more experienced. He wasn't wearing a tuxedo, but rather normal jeans and a dark gray sweatshirt, unfazed by the elegant attire of the other two beside him. The reflective Cole smirked at the real Nya, winking, showing her a flash of his white teeth, where beneath his lip rested the fangs she both feared and strangely admired. His vampirism kept him ageless, young forever. But that wasn't what was making Nya gape at this futuristic reflection with her lungs empty of any air.

It was the two children standing at her feet.

In the reflection, there was a little boy with beautiful red hair that matched Jay's, holding a pillow with two rings in its caress. His eyes were a deep green, exactly like her boyfriend's. The only thing that reminded Nya of herself was his feminine face shape. He wore a little white tuxedo too. His cheeks were round, yet seemed sunken in; he blinked innocently and grabbed the older Nya's wedding dress with one hand. He only reached her knees. He didn't look frightened, but rather speculating of the real Nya, Jay, and Cole. "Mommy?" He whispered.

Nya's gaze travelled to the little girl standing at the boy's side. Her hair was short, choppy, like a boy's, but the most beautiful shade of ebony Nya had ever seen. A wide pair of mismatching eyes looked back at her. Of two exquisite shades, one eye was plated silver, gleaming anxiously out towards the world, and the other a beautiful shade of honey, just like Nya's. The real Nya gasped when she saw the reflective Cole smile at her. With her bangs hanging practically in her face, the little girl wore a pretty black sundress over a pair of sandals, looking like she was ready to go trample a town rather than go to a wedding. Her face was shaped just like Nya's, too, but her long, straight nose was _just like Cole's. _The little girl blinked at the real Nya.

"Daddy?" the little boy turned to the older Jay. He looked lovingly down at his son. "Daddy, who are they?"

Instead of answering, the older Jay picked up his son, cradling him closer into his warmth. The little girl looked back at the reflective Cole. "Papa, is that you?" She pointed towards the real Cole. Nya's gaze followed the small, elegant finger towards her friend, who blinked sadly back at her. Nya's eyes averted back to the beautiful little girl being scooped into Cole's arms.

"Yeah," he answered, sounding no different than he did today. "That's me, Rie."

_Rie? _Nya blinked at the little girl called "Rie," pronounced "_Ree." _She realized that was a name she would've picked for her own daughter, already having contemplated her name choices in the dark of the night. Nya's mouth fell open as she looked at the little boy. Her daughter, who looked so much like Cole, and her son, who was a spitting image of Jay, both watched her inquisitively. She met her own eyes in the mirror to find her older-self exuding a slow nod. She was saying yes to every question in Nya's mind that now ran like cold blood.

"Zachary?" Nya whispered tentatively.

The little boy whirled.

_Oh, God, _she gasped, placing her hand over her mouth as she stumbled backwards. Her eyes flipped back and forth between her children, both of whom looked no older than seven, watching her with queer gazes. The real Jay and Cole turned to her with expressionless gazes. Nya wasn't understanding—she didn't know how this could happen—falling her gaze to Cole, she watched him, feeling every part of her drowning in her of confusion. _I didn't…with Cole, I didn't…_Her mouth opened and closed in attempt to understand, but it was impossible. How could she understand something this outrageous?

Cole reached his hand towards her. Jay watched sullenly. His hand slipped around Nya's waist, pulling her closer, so close she could smell his usual woodsy scent clinging to his skin. Nya tried hard not to inhale too deeply—whenever she smelled his beautiful liquor, she always felt it consume her heart completely. She felt her hands tremble against his chest, though his gray eyes, hard and pleading, matched the words that fell from his gorgeous lips. "Twins, Nya," he said softly with the press of his lips to her forehead. "You're having twins."

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**Hmmm…. :3 Please review, you guys, because hearing your feedback is awesome! ^^ Go have an AWESOME day/night!**


	19. Chapter 18: Torture By Dreams, Part 3

_18. Torture by Dreams, Pt. 3_

**ZANE  
****_I dream of reality_**

ZANE COULDN'T DREAM that day. His dreams were empty, if at all existent, because everything Zane had ever been afraid of had already happened to him in just a matter of a few months.

_They betrayed us, _he thought softly, head hanging low in the darkness. _They betrayed us. She left me. She…she betrayed me. And so did my father. My family, betrayed…my brothers, attacked…my death, true…_

_They betrayed us…and we are finally, truly, heartwrenchingly alone._

**COLE  
****_I dream of being a monster_**

SHE SAT ON his lap, curled into his chest, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, clutching onto him with every ounce of strength she had. Cole grinned into her hair, glad he had the chance to hold onto her again. Every dread within him had told Cole, so drastically, that Seiko was dead with the kiss of unexpected death, but he was overexcited to find that she wasn't dead. He held tighter onto his little sister with tears of joy escaping his eyes.

"Seiko," he breathed into her ebony mane, inhaling the sweet smell of sakura trees enveloping her body. Seiko squeezed him tighter with long, bubbly laughter. "Oh, God, Seiko, I—I'm so sorry I let you go, I—I didn't—"

"Shut up, Sparkles," she grumbled into his ear, tugging on his hair affectionately. "I forgive you."

He was glad to find his younger sister hadn't let her humorous comments die with her. He pulled away at the comment of _Sparkles _to pull her forehead to his, glad he could hold her cheeks again, glad that she still existed in the same plane of life that he did, as opposed to where Kai and Zane had been when they died. Her hair was silky beneath his palms, dampened with sweat, but he didn't care. He gazed deeply into his sister's mocking gray eyes with a laugh. She wiped away his tears with her fingertips. He was overcome by happiness, exploding inside his heart lovingly. Seiko was all he had left—losing her would've broken his heart.

"When did you become so…squishy?" Seiko asked, squeezing his arm. His hard bicep didn't move in return. "You're still physically fit, but dude, you're like jelly. You never cry."

Cole chuckled, pulling her back to him. "You don't know how much I missed you. I love you so much," he whispered in her ear. Seiko smiled in return, eyes sparkling. "I really do. I love my baby sister." He kneaded her shoulders with his hard hands, feeling how tense her muscles strained under whatever hell she'd been forced to skid through. She wrapped her legs around his waist and gave him a sisterly punch on the arm, though her thick black eyelashes dipped low with her purring smile. Cole laughed.

"Well, then," Seiko played it off as a joke, but he saw how delighted she was to be remembered. "I wouldn't have made it out if not for Twinkies."

"T…Twinkies?" Cole frowned. He hadn't heard that one before. "Who's Twinkies?"

"You know," Seiko twisted in his lap, pointing behind her. "Goldy Locks. Cupcakes. The master of all things emotionless. Mr. Nothing." Cole's gaze followed her the path down her arm to the point of her finger, resting on a form standing not too far away from them, arms crossed over his chest. Lloyd watched with a raised eyebrow, but a demonstrative twist to his lips; immediately, Cole felt possessive, and his grip tightened over his little sister. Seiko gave him a sideways look.

"What?" She asked sourly. "It's Lloyd, for crying out loud. He doesn't feel anything."

"Lloyd can't just let go of his emotions. The kid feels too much," Cole said darkly. He wasn't usually so acerbic around Lloyd—after all, he was a kid, and what did kids know about girls other than their infectious disease called _Cooties? _Cole tried to calm the way his animal instincts told him to protect the people he loved; the person in question right now was his sister, now being the test subject of his demonstration. It was hard for him to shut off the selfish way he couldn't let Seiko get hurt anymore, by of all things, Lloyd Garmadon. He swallowed hard and turned back to Seiko. "I mean…It's…Lloyd. Like…"

"Exactly," Seiko untangled herself from Cole's hands. He stared, unsure how to react to his sister climbing off his lap. "It's not like I _like _him, Cole. He saved my life. Yeesh. Overprotective a little, are you, Sparkles?"

"I just don't want you to…get hurt because of a boy," he said, but then paused to correct himself. "No, because of _Lloyd. _Lloyd's…young. I mean, he doesn't really know much about girls or—or the life cycle, or…you know. He never got 'the Talk.'"

Lloyd, though a witness, looked completely impassive, standing in the corner. Seiko posed her hands over her hips with a swift roll of her eyes. "I'm not looking for a relationship, Cole. I'm fifteen. I don't _like _people, remember?" She waved her hand through the air in front of his face, stirring a gusto to his lips. Cole vaguely noticed the way shadows began to creep around her thin ankles.

"But how do I know that Lloyd isn't?"

"The guy's like mentally ten. I think you're good." Seiko gave him a look. She turned to Lloyd and wiggled her fingers, bringing the Green Ninja to attention. "Isn't that right, Twinkies?"

Lloyd blinked, emotionless. Cole felt like someone just slapped him in the face. Lloyd _never _looked so blank, so empty before. Usually, Lloyd was so full of life, so charismatic, that there was always something to be learned from him because of his multiple ways to bring everyone up. He lived by the motto "Ninja never quit" and was basically the real life of the party when he was around. Yet everything about the way Lloyd watched his sister now told the baffled Cole that he, in fact, _had _quit. Cole felt breathless enough to wheeze.

Lloyd reached out a hand towards her. Seiko looked down at his open palm with peaked interest. "I'm growing with my body," he said tonelessly. Cole was getting punched in the face by Lloyd's words, as well as how _bare _the kid was. What was this? Why was he so hollow? "My age is slowly starting to catch up to me. Eventually, I'll be seventeen mentally and physically." He turned his gaze onto Cole, blinking once. "And you won't be able to stop it."

Cole stood from his chair defensively. Seiko raised her eyebrow. "What does _that _mean, Lloyd?" He asked coolly, but inside he felt like he was exploding.

Instead of waiting for her, Lloyd grabbed Seiko's hand, dragging her closer to him. Cole growled protectively, but Lloyd was unfazed by any animalistic prevention he dispensed. Seiko's cheeks reddened when Lloyd's arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer with a gentle tug, her body pressed against his. Cole didn't like any of it, with the sudden connection to Kai bursting open, understanding just why Kai didn't like his sister dating one of his brothers. Cole's face twisted into a feral grimace. He hoped he'd scare Lloyd into letting her go, but Lloyd looked at him without even a flicker of emotion. Cole finally saw the way that Lloyd was wearing a pure white robe set, wrapping around him in silky waves. With a start, Cole saw how Seiko was wearing a pure black, elegant dress, curling around her legs along with the icy tendrils of shadows. Her fingers, bound in lacy fingerless gloves, held deep contrast to Lloyd's choice of attire. Understanding why they were dressed like that was hard. His vampire vision fixed on a deep black stone wrapped by a thin chain around Lloyd's throat, resting against the bare sliver of chest visible in the connection of the separate robe's sides, tied together by a silk ribbon. He saw a shockingly white, similar stone around Seiko's neck. Both these opposing colors disrupted the pure shades that each of them wore. It was…Cole frowned. It reminded him so much of the Yin and Yang symbol it gave him shivers.

"Look, Lloyd," Cole began, shaking away the strange feeling he sensed. "It's not that I don't trust you. But that's my sister."

"We're one in the same," Lloyd said to him, never swerving his gaze to something else. Cole almost squirmed. "We can't be taken apart, or everything will go wrong."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Cole asked of the vague comment, angrily. Lloyd had no right to waltz in here and steal away his immature little sister into his pretty-boy arms. His lip curled with the simultaneous action of his fingers hooking into claws.

Lloyd's hand rubbed up and down Seiko's back gently. She started to succumb into him, resting her cheek against his chest. Cole felt himself growl once more. He certainly didn't like the way she started to look more and more relaxed with every lap of Lloyd's hand. "If she gets away from me, if we're split up, then there will be a massive, _massive _consequence," Lloyd said steadily. "Think of it as splitting an atom."

Cole rolled his eyes. "That's the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard," he snapped.

Seiko looked back at him sharply. "No, Sparkles, he ain't kidding. Although we're not _together _together…we have to be together. Otherwise it'll end in some kind of mass destruction. And we really _don't _wanna do that."

Now, Cole was furious. Maybe this could've been dealt with better if they hadn't come up with some stupid excuse for their relationship. Although they were kids, and kids were stupid enough to lie consistently. Cole cracked his knuckles with a fire inside his chest. "This is stupid," he said to them. "You guys are stupid. I mean…SERIOUSLY. DID YA THINK I'D BELIEVE THAT? No."

There was a voice from behind him. "Geezus. Freak much?" Cole whirled on Kai, who placed his arms over his chest. He wound his way around Cole to visit Seiko in her "friendly" embrace with Lloyd. She gave the fire ninja a tentative smile while holding out her hand in a little hello. Kai's mouth curled into an expressive smile. Cole felt like his head was about to explode into a million tiny fragments of brain and bone. He clenched his fists.

"What. The. _Flip. _Are you doing." He glared at Seiko. She smiled secretively at him. He hated the look of it.

"Breathing. Living. What are _you _doing, Sparkles?" She retorted.

To her outstretched hand, Kai grabbed it with his own, enjoying the fact that he was _now holding her fricking hand. _Cole gaped. Were these guys really so stupid that they were going to demonstrate PDA in front of the overprotective brother? Waving his hands, Cole yowled into the air, "OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH! LET HER GO, LLOYD! AND KAI?" Cole stared at the fire ninja. "Where in the crap did you even _come _from?"

"Over there." He pointed to the empty space behind Cole. He returned with a scowl to the fire ninja.

"You're an idiot. Let go of Seiko's hand."

Kai dropped her hand. Seiko didn't seem affected by the loss, but rather buried her face into Lloyd's chest. "That's fine," she said softly. She pushed her head deeper beneath Lloyd's chin. She looked content, almost happy, even, but Cole wasn't going to deal with it.

"No. Just…come here, Seiko."

Seiko twirled her body in Lloyd's arms so her back pressed against his front. She took his hands and wrapped them around her waist, pulling the Green Ninja's chin to her shoulder. Lloyd buried his face in the sweet, sakura smelling scent of her skin, causing Cole to practically hemorrhage all over the floor. His coronary heart attack was already beginning. With Kai beginning to fade away into the distance, the earth ninja's anger pointed directly at Lloyd, who smiled against Seiko's bare skin a _little _too happily. There was no way he was going to sit here and _watch _this crap happen _any longer—_

Lloyd pressed his lips to the hollow beneath Seiko's ear. Her whole body rose under his touch. When her back arched blissfully, Cole felt the vampiric transition begin to form over his face, felt the squishing/cracking noise begin to erupt into the air. With a feral snarl, he propelled himself at intense speeds through the air, ripping her out of Lloyd's arms, pulling her backwards behind him as though he could use himself as a shield. Equally as quickly, Cole pinned Lloyd against the wall. The Green Ninja finally started showing some emotion, and it would've made Cole feel bad if he weren't so angry: _loss. _

Lloyd started to gasp, his eyes widening like he was being choked, but the only prudent activity Cole performed was pinning his shoulders to the wall. Cole bared his fangs in Lloyd's face, but Lloyd wasn't focused on watching the vampire; instead, he looked over Cole's shoulder with his mangled cries. "Seiko!" he cried helplessly, gasping horrifically. Cole heard his sister's response from behind him.

_"Lloyd!" _she shrieked. He felt her hands tugging fiercely on his jacket. "Cole, let him go! Let Lloyd go! _NO! Lloyd! Lloooyyydd!"_

Cole watched as Lloyd's skin began to gray. He felt his anger die into confusion, die into worry, but there wasn't any time to reverse the effects. Lloyd's eyelids drooped, his struggle beneath Cole's yielding hands beginning to die, his body beginning to limp along with that death. His skin became leathery, gray, and colorless with every last breath. Seiko cried in loud screams as Cole backed away from the dead ninja. He'd just killed Lloyd. Oh, God, he'd just _killed Lloyd! _His hands shook horrifically as the boy's body fell limply into a pool of limbs on the ground. Seiko dropped down beside him, touching Lloyd's cheeks with gasps of pain. "NO!" She cried. "NOOOO! Lloyd, please don't…don't be…_Lloyd," _she sobbed. She whirled towards her brother. "I told you we couldn't be apart! You never listen to me! Now I'm going to—"

Seiko didn't finish. Cole's whole body shook while his little sister began to gray and fade, until she collapsed beside the white-clad ninja, her own death retching into the room from the pores of her body. Cole's heart stopped. He'd not only killed Lloyd, but he'd killed Seiko too…Oh God. He looked down at his hands, mysteriously slick with blood of two difference scents and shades: it was the blood of the two people he'd just killed. Their blood was on his hands. Cole started to gasp with tears. Oh, God, he'd just killed…

He was a _monster. _Cole Mitsuhide was a _monster—_and he'd just killed his little sister. Oh, God. Oh, my flipping _GOD. _

He was a _monster. _

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**PLEASE REVIEW, guys! ^^ Tell me what you think! Go have an AWESOME day/night!**


	20. Chapter 19: It's Not Orange

**Let's get into Eloquim's mind one more time today, shall we? :3**

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_19. It's Not Orange_

Eloquim backed away from the tall, tiered building, a dark chuckle bubbling up the tube of his throat. In his hands, he clasped the Mega Weapon. It whirred brilliantly to life even after the wish was made. The edifice he'd altered with this magnificent source of exquisite power still carried the same appearance, concocted out of large blocks of stone, wooden tier casings made of red and turquoise, plus that admittedly random clock poised in the center of its glory. It was still poised atop a high, desolate mountain as the Shadow Dancer remembered it. Last he'd seen it, the constructive piece claimed of its changing inner soul, switching teams under the observation of Lloyd Garmadon's similar side-swap. Oh, yes; Eloquim had been watching the ninja even long before their journey in dances with death began, even though he had appeared in the form of shadows, hidden by their mask with embrace for these violent things. In current time, Eloquim the Deadly blinked into the air. There were clouds blocking the sun from gleaming brightly over Ninjago City, casting it away into a pit of stormy rain made by human emotion. He knew that peeking from beyond those thick tufts was the sun he had once known to fear, now curse raised from his body like a fog from a swamp. Reveling in the fact that he was able to walk in the daylight—a "daywalker," some may call him—was something of a beauteous luxury for a Shadow Dancer. Still, he pursed his black lips in thought towards the day he'd begun stalking his prey: the Ninja.

Eloquim's grip tightened on the Mega Weapon determinedly. The day he began moving along the Ninja's similar path was also the day that he had realized of his discovery to a pair of the most powerful beings ever created. He could've been a rich man, if he'd learned to turn them in to someone who perhaps could enjoy their company to more torturous effects. Yet Eloquim had been more determined to make his own reality true. That day, the Shadow Dancer was pleased to be informed that not only in stalking the rescuers of mankind from the Overlord's unending reign, he had stumbled upon the son of the Dark Lord as well as the son of the King of the Underworld. For some time, Eloquim had been hoping to catch sight of that long lost son without coming to terms with his appearance, yet hearing the unusual name of Kai came to bring him into realization. The notch over Kai's eye had only deepened his triumph. Though the scar causing it had somehow disappeared, the memory of the terrible mark still burned, even if it was forgotten to the mind of who once carried it. Eloquim chuckled deeply in his own chest.

Kai had only been a boy when the Shadow Dancers chased after Elathan and his wife. Angry in fits, all the nightfall-stalking creatures took to chasing the couple as far as the eye could see. Eloquim had been no merciful to them than a starving cat would've been to a mouse's pack. There would've been a cold, cold day in hell to come before Eloquim let them disappear so quickly from his captivity—to leave the Shadow Dancers _behind _on earth as the couple had! Elathan insisted for the years of his reign that the only way for the immortals to return to the Underworld was if the Shadow Key was found and used against the Gate to Hell. Of course, trust in the King had unsubtly disappeared once Eloquim found he and his wife running into a portal in which would transport them back to the gruel of land that Elathan possessed. Eloquim was determined to make sure Elathan _had _a reason to return. Triumph was great when the Shadow Dancer's leader was able to snatch from the King's arms the child wrapped in red, to torment the parents while their road to home slowly began to shrivel to disappear into the air, sticking them to the world forever. Elathan had to decide how to leave his beloved son behind in return for homecoming back into the Underworld—in the end, the King chose his kingdom over his kin, but Eloquim had been torturous about it on purpose. He'd drug a thick claw down the baby's face to make sure that Kai _remembered _him. The Shadow Dancer had been particularly determined for that to happen. He wanted his image to stain into Kai's memories with the blood being the ink to the awful poem of Eloquim's gift.

It wasn't until Eloquim began stalking the Ninja that he was startled to discover that he wasn't the _only _shadow following them.

With a dark smile, Eloquim rubbed his hands over the Mega Weapon's staff, remembering how he had discarded his old one for this newer, plenty more powerful scepter in return. The use of power would've drained Garmadon after every wish, but the Shadow Dancer was _far _stronger than the four-armed mortal Lord ever could've been. Wishes had been popped out like chicken's feathers, faster producing than anything a crowd could've seen. He thought deeper about who else Eloquim had discovered tended to watch the Ninja.

_"Who are you?" _His own voice bounced off his memory's walls. The echo of his voice brought his eyes out of focus, instead replacing the image of the tiered building with the face of a young boy, hair darkened yet neatly cropped around his head. The child's wide, frightened eyes replaced the clock Eloquim had still found spontaneously ridiculous. The boy's blue sweater covered the neatly pressed shirt and green tie. Eloquim knew that his mother must've assorted his clothing for purpose. Children were far too stupid to know how to dress themselves. The little boy had never had the potential to look any older than ten, if not perhaps _younger; _his ridiculous attempts at revenge didn't seem to enjoy well in musters of random vengeance. Eloquim had borne his teeth into the night, where he held the child in the air by the color of that ugly sweater. He loved to make little children fearful. The young boy practically wet his pants just dangling through the fit of air.

"_Who are you?" _Eloquim had repeated viciously. Outside of the Destiny's Bounty, hidden in the shadows of a tall peak, Eloquim had pressed the boy against the mountain—much like its siblings scattered in formation around the docking place—to get more information. The little boy almost screamed with fear.

His cries could've echoed through the Mountains of Impossible Heights. However, Eloquim wasn't stupid enough to allow such shrieks to escape the child's lips. He slapped a scaly hand over the kid's mouth. "_Scream, and you will perish."_

After the removal of his clawed hand, the child stared at him with the whites of his eyes plainly visible around his blue irises. He trembled in fear. "B-Brad," he gasped. "Brad Tudabone."

_"Hmmmmmm…" _Enchantingly enough, the small 'Brad' seemed to clasp his attention. Never once had Eloquim had a tolerance for adolescents—they were pitifully stupid—but Brad became something of a growing tumor to the dark scales of the Shadow Dancer. "Well, _Brad._ Why have you come?"

"I—I'm watching the Ninja."

"Oh, you don't say?" Eloquim could remember the sweet taste of sarcasm dripping off his tongue, mixed with his own acidic saliva. "What _for?" _

"I—uh—I—please don't hurt me," the child gasped. With Eloquim's fist strangling the collar of his vest, Brad seemed like a lost puppy, although he had a set plan in his mind that Eloquim sensed he wouldn't veer from. Eloquim liked the fact that there was a little minion to add to his numbers. The plan to use Brad to his advantage had sprung even before Eloquim truly anticipated its birth.

_"Of course not, Brad. Are you alone? Would you like to come with me and…" _His memories died slowly as the building of the present eclipsed back into view. Thunder controlled the skies overhead. Eloquim didn't like to sigh much, so he swallowed his own, feeling deep within his chest the vibrations of an element coming on. Around him, the reborn snake army continued to move, but their movements were drawing close to the excavation the Shadow Dancer commanded had begun. He whirled on the nearest Venomari warrior, grabbing the snake's wrist and yanking it towards him. He was most satisfied to have things to abuse within arm's reach. "You!" He growled. "Is it done?"

"Ye_ssss_, _ss_ir, it i_ssssss." _The snake looked confidently towards him. "Word from Pythor and Caroline _alsso _came in, _sss_ir. The brown ninja i_ssss_ dead, as well as a robot," informed the snake loyally. Eloquim listened through a cocked head. "But the Original Vampire has reawakened."

"Splendid!" Eloquim said approvingly. The snake visibly relaxed. "Send our lovely Caroline the news that our new little chamber is complete, and that she should send the Original immediately. _Immediately. _Emphasize that, will you? I can't stress enough how much she needs to arrive."

"What if _sssss_he refu_sss_e_sss?" _the snake questioned, rubbing together its scaly hands. Eloquim had to admit it was a thought he hadn't considered. From what conversing Eloquim had done to plot with the Original, it was that she didn't enjoy being told what to do. He'd only ever spoken with her in the terms that the dazzling creature had come upon him with the top-secret knowledge that Eloquim was in pursuit of the Ninja. Kiko Maya had been interested in the vampire Ninja, Cole, more so than she had joining the evil side. A rather balanced deal had been made on either counterpart. He couldn't say he wasn't proud of auctioning off the earth ninja after he was finished with the sorry monster into Kiko's pleased arms. After all, once the Original had him, it meant that he'd have one less Ninja to deal with.

Hopefully, when the kennel arrived, he'd never have to deal with any of them again.

"Then you tell her that I'll stake her vampire without hesitation," he passed on the threat with a wave of his hand. The Mega Weapon pulsed with the clasp. "That'll send her running."

The Venomari warrior bowed. Without anything else to say, it turned to deliver the message. Eloquim was more excited to make another wish upon the Mega Weapon's never ending supply of genie powers, all sapped from his own inner supremacy, although giving in exchange a few drops of power for a well-deserved wish was nothing in his mind. Watching the building, so different on the inside, but so same on the out, made him know he'd done his job correctly. At this rate, Eloquim would have the Gate open in no time.

Eloquim's peace to appreciate the turn of events lived a short span of life. He heard the crunch of small feet on the gravel behind him. "Eloquim?" The way Brad said his name sounded more of _Elo-Come _than it did _Elo-qwum. _He bristled invisibly, but turned to the child he'd hoped to see. Since Eloquim had found him all those months ago stalking the Ninja in vein to (in Brad's mind) hopefully gain some kind of revenge onto their good-doing persons, he'd forced an attire change out of him. Discarding his mother's choice of clothing was probably the best idea that Brad ever followed through with. Of course, Eloquim didn't know anything about dressing children, and had sent Caroline willfully out into the world with stolen money to buy the poor kid something else to wear. He was glad to not have to watch the disgusted attire infiltrate his poor eyes anymore.

Brad's dark jeans and T-shirt made him look more like the phrase his name played from, _bad to the bone, _rather than the _look at me, I'm all squishy and loveable; come hug me! _vibe he'd previously been excreting. Eloquim challenged the scepter with the tap of his claws. He was getting an idea…and it was completely, utterly, evilly _delicious. _

Brad tapped together his hands nervously. "Are you really going to put the Ninja inside of Darkley's?" He asked, pointing to the transformed school behind Eloquim. The Shadow Dancer barely even glanced at it.

"That isn't your little school anymore, Bradford," Eloquim poked the child's stomach with the end of his staff. Brad squeaked in a shuddering return. "That's a mad house. If you go in there, you won't escape with your life. Understood? You'll stay _out _of trouble. If you don't…You most certainly will die."

Brad's eyes widened. Eloquim didn't really care if the midget went inside or not, but warning him seemed to fare well. He had, though this is beyond admittance, developed a friendly affection for the scrawny thing. Still, he turned fully to face the wide-eyed child with the Mega Weapon in his hands. He smiled.

"Brad? You're always telling me how much you _hate _the Ninja. Especially Lloyd," he added. Brad grimaced to the face of the ground. "I think I have a solution to our little _problem." _

Interested, Brad's eyes rose. "What've you got in mind?"

"I think that perhaps Lloyd needs a taste of his own medicine," answered the Shadow Dancer. He spoke in hopes to grasp the attention of a kid rather than the authoritive tone he took when speaking to those who weren't, well, idiots. "Once these Ninja are stuck inside of Darkley's and the spell binds the towers shut forever, there will only be the Green Ninja to deal with."

"I thought you said he's in the Underworld."

"Yes," answered Eloquim patiently. It was extremely forced. "But he'll be escaping _very _soon, and I think that when he arrives home, he'll need something to knock him off his feet, won't he?"

Brad watched him through narrow eyes. "Sure." He paused. "But what are you gonna make with your magical glow-stick?" Brad pointed at the Mega Weapon. Eloquim's fists clenched angrily.

"It is _not _a glow stick, it's a scepter," he corrected gruffly. Brad shrugged. "And I was thinking something more along the lines of…someone who can match Lloyd's power with equal greatness. Someone who can actually defeat the Green Ninja."

"Where are you going to find someone like that?"

In this turn, Eloquim didn't answer. He held the Mega Weapon before him, calling to the deeper parts of his body for assistance with granting this wish. Black eyelids fell over black eyes, detaching Eloquim's gaze from the world. The suck of the drinking power yanked from inside of him. The Shadow Dancer felt it in his bones, in the slog of scratches pulling through his person. It was like dragging a rope through water. Wrapping him in nausea, Eloquim held the Mega Weapon above his head, calling forth the mystical powers in which had before granted him the power to ruin this school with hideous nightmares in the first place. Brad watched with weary eyes. "I wish that I could turn my own apprentice into the Green Ninja's complimentary counterpart! I wish he is equally matched with Lloyd Garmadon, able to completely _wipe out _the Green Ninja when his powers are used. I wish that Brad Tudabone became the…" He paused fragmentally, wracking his brain. "…the most powerful orange ninja there _ever _was! I wish he is the _only one who has the power to kill Lloyd Garmadon for good!" _

There was an explosive sound erupting from the weapon in his hands. Admittedly, it did take him off guard—Eloquim's eyes shot open, watching the golden weapon hum to life. Like the sun, it radiated light, blinding the creature who only lived in darkness. He would've dropped it if he hadn't sufficiently reminded himself that dropping it would mean the wish would be broken. Blinded, Eloquim held tighter onto the burning gold, determined to make this work. There was a gasp from the little boy that Eloquim had both hated for annoyance and partially tolerated. He watched as Brad's body was lifted into the air, wrapped in golden tendrils that attacked his body with their magical powers, fighting to turn him into everything Eloquim wished. Actually, Eloquim _now_ wished he'd added _brains _somewhere in the gist, but he figured that he'd just force that onto the boy sometime else. It struck him as peculiar how he'd worded his wish also—would it come true the way he wanted it to? Worrying just a tad, the Shadow Dancer observed keenly as the powerful beams exploding from Brad's body melted away, returning the small feet to the rocky plantation of Darkley's property.

But Brad didn't look like Brad anymore. Eloquim's eyebrows would've shot up if he had any. The obnoxious little boy no longer existed as a child, but as a teenager, standing before Eloquim in a deep, dark orange ninja suit, chiefly plain in comparison to the Ninja's current flashy uniforms. But the creature wasn't interested in looks. He grinned at the sight of the young man, his body taller, his face older, form wider. Brad's haircut was no longer the ridiculous cut it previously existed as, but rather normal, choppy, and unkempt. His face thinned out, his cheekbones higher onto his face's plane; he looked down at himself with a frown on his handsome face.

"I…I'm _older?" _He whispered. His eyes glanced up towards Eloquim. It was apparently far too hard for Brad to resist doing the 360 degree spin in which he observed himself in all angles. He stared at his clothes. "Why did you pick orange?"

"That's not _just _orange, that's a fiery orange," argued Eloquim, gesturing to his new apprentice. "And red was already taken on the color wheel. Opposite directly from green?" At Brad's understanding nod, he waved his hand through a gesticulation. "I had to settle for next best thing. At least you aren't yellow."

Brad shrugged. He held out his arms, witnessing himself with childish interest. "This is so cool," he breathed. Excitedly, he looked at Eloquim. The leader might as well have handed him a Christmas present many months too early. "What are my powers?" He gasped. "Can I make things explode? Can I set things on fire? Can I make there be huge earthquakes, or start a blizzard? Can I—"

"No," Eloquim answered. He felt dizzy. "And no, no, _no. _You don't have any powers like that."

Brad frowned. He held out his arms to look at himself again. "Well, then, what's my power?" He asked insistently. Eloquim's grip on his staff tightened. Behind them, the rumble of the hauling kennel appeared, warning him that the Ninja in their Hearst had arrived. They could've been in the midst of being hauled off to a concentration camp for all the life that mattered after this moment in time. Brad waited excitedly for Eloquim to answer.

"Your power, my wonderful apprentice," answered the Shadow Dancer dramatically, "is poison. And it is with that poison within yourself that you will finally kill that pesky Lloyd Garmadon, once and for _all."_

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**Le gasp! Brad Tudabone is making a comeback, Lloyd! You better watch out! X3 We'll see what happens next with the Ninja, then we're going to travel downwards to watch Lloyd and Seiko meet Kai's brother, Noel- this should be fun, no? *smiles***

**Please review, guys, because I LOVE hearing from you! **

**(PS- ZaneWalker, I still love your question. It made me laugh and seriously think about it for like two minutes. :3)**

**~Kairi**


	21. Chapter 20: A Crack In the Earth

**aahhhhh you guys, it's an epic chapter! X3 EPIC EPIC! This is the last you're gonna hear from the Ninja for a couple of chapters, because Lloyd's gonna get his thunder back. X3 I can't just abandon my favorite ninja! ^.^ So enjoy a POV from every one of the Ninja today, starting off with our beloved Zane. **

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_20. A Crack In the Earth_

Zane's eyes opened the moment the dilapidated doors of the kennel swung wide, revealing the image of a tall tower beyond the cerulean snake who'd opened the gates. The light cruelly permeated his poor eyes, so used to the nothingness existing inside of the truck bed. He blinked away the pain in his awfully human eyes. Before, if he were still a nindroid, he wouldn't suffer through the ache of dealing with the sun's exponential rays. However, that part of his life was over. Zane had become human again, and he was more than pleased to continue his life's journey with a heartbeat rather than a mechanical rhythm whirring inside of his panel.

But Zane was still working out the kinks of being mortal. He'd Been human, once, practically a century ago, living morally with his older, admirable brother Rikku on the farm driven by his prosperous pair of parents. That part of him, however much he respected the whimsical disappearance of mortality within itself, had sadly died along with his body. Zane couldn't properly remember just the particular functions of human animation just yet. He had long forgotten how humans actually BLEED. Though witnessing the spill of succulent red liquid from the veins of his brothers, it had long since been a day whereas Zane experienced the undoing of his own skin exerting such fluid. He had suffered a splinter the date of his return from the hollows of death. It had actually startled him to find that his thick layer of what used to abide as false skin had let the wooden slice enter his body. It took Zane an extensive amount of time to remember that he was human again, and humans must undergo these small things that Zane had never paid attention to before. That very splinter had made him pause his laughter to examine the strange insertion of a small, small piece of wood within his system. It awed him how it slipped so peacefully between layers of skin, like it was a true piece of him instead of an invader, like it wasn't causing him tiny winces of pain at its dark entrance. Everyone else had stopped to watch him stare at his injury with quite some interest. Kai had even begun laughing, wrapping his arm around the brother that Zane had grown closer to by the counting seconds of their numb ghost journeys on the other side of the peripheral plane. "Looks like you're experiencing a culture shock!" He had chuckled, pulling dear to Zane, though as always the former nindroid was blown away by the subtle alien in his skin. Such a small piece of nothing, yet his body was so sensitive he could feel the sting of its pieces underneath his first protective layer of flesh. It was quite the difference from his seemingly indescructable shell of metal he had before.

Why was it that such a beautiful reunion was quickly faded by the dawn of evil in the horizon? It seemed like years ago that Zane had opened his groggy human eyes to view the darkness of his bedroom, Feeling lightweight to be free on this heavenly morning. With Kai softly asleep, Zane had continued through with the usual, cognizant routine his mornings consisted of before the Bounty Original had crashed. He had felt prepared for a day packed with a sufficient amount of informational gatherings. Kai and Zane had agreed to reveal their knowledge to the other, less-informed Ninjas. However, their plans seemed pitiful and useless to consider, with his hands now bound forcibly behind his back to an aching angle and scaled claws tearing him out of the truck's concave bed. Zane was thrown roughly from the kennel's keep to land on his face in the dirt. A sharp pain exploded through his arm, warning him of impending doom for his bone if he didn't switch positions soon. He tried not to give a groan of suffering. The point of showing weakness would not exist; Zane thought about Kai's life motto: "A ninja NEVER admits defeat!" It brought him strength in pushing himself up with his knees rather in hands, since currently they were unavailable to his usability, and face the snakes hauling the others from the bed of their captivity without easy grace. Kai was thrown violently from the truck into the dirt beside Zane. He grunted, but furthermore showed no sign of weakness; Zane proudly smiled at him, despite their current state of bound chains. At least someone was being confident!

Kai rolled to heave himself out of the light brown dust scattering the expanse of his back, leaving Zane to glance at Jay as he was tossed out next. The red and sickly blue snakes hissed their tongues to menacing effect in Jay's direction, lifting him so easily he could've only weighted few grams, like a flower petal should. Jay's eyes widened in sight of them, and for the next thing he knew, he was eating dirt beside Kai with a choked cough of the earthly substance. He rolled onto his back, wincing at the strain of his weight on his tied hands, and sat upwards. Zane felt a bruise begin to welt onto his arm. It was extremely convenient that the ninja—excluding the deceased Kai and Zane—had already defeated and even killed half the army of snakes that Eloquim seemed to enjoy recruiting, yet there were plenty slithering around the grounds that Zane and his brothers faced. The view wasn't pretentially great. Zane could only focus his seethed eyes on the darkness of the truck bed. It was as dark as a cave, so cloaked by the black that who came next from the entombment was a mystery. The snakes reached into the shelter to latch their claws onto the next victim, and yanked.

Nya screamed as she was hurled out of the bed. Kai gasped and, with a swiftness Zane had observed many times before in his impervious friend, moved to be her pillow. His loved sister landed atop him, her own hands strewn closely behind her back, but safe enough from her land. Zane assumed Kai would be donning a fresh bruise over his abdomen from this point on. Nya worriedly pressed her face into Kai's shoulder, trembling in fear. Kai had to squeeze his eyes shut to stop himself from making a gutteral noise.

While Nya pleaded her apologies, Zane averted his eyes instead to see the snakes growling their way deeper into the mouth of the crated corral. Jay wrestled his body upwards to make noise for Nya to see him—and when she did, she gave a delighted gasp. Zane smiled briefly before participating in taking mental inventory. The only ninja left would be Cole, at first assumption, before he remembered that Garmadon had also been presidential during the takeover of green-tainted evils. He tried not to let himself grow wary of the former evil Lord's tack into their crusade. Wondering constantly if Garmadon could be trusted, Zane was unsure of his human senses anymore. Usually he was so used to operating a sixth sense that he was quickly able to pick up on forthcoming dangers. Without it, he felt as useful as a spoon when a knife was needed.

To Zane's lack of surprise, Garmadon was tossed out next, his withering old form slamming to the ground. Apparently, Kai had never run his motto through with the elder brother of the Garmadon siblings, forcing the insidious wail of old bones coming to sorts with rock hard earth. Garmadon painfully gathered his breath, knocked from his lungs, in visibly audible intakes. Zane nudged the old man with his foot. Even if he was wary, he was also kindhearted. Garmadon looked at him as though he hadnt anticipated to see the boy, but was happy to see him anyway. "Zane!" he cried softly, wrestling himself to a sitting position. The way Garmadon did it made Zane wince at how painful he maneuvered himself. "Where are we?"

Zane couldn't answer; his focus swerved elsewhere.

"Come—out!" snarled the red snake, reaching into the cave to grab blindly in the darkness. "Ssssstop fighting!" the blue one snuck his hands into the shadow as well. "Fighting issss no good—OW!"

An animal like growl came from inside of the kennel. It forced every hair on Zane's body to electrocute on end; the noise bounded off the square cage in lapels of strangely musical notes. The sound was low, menacing to warn those interfering of their nearing demises, though Zane knew Cole's intention was not to rivet his enemy, but task to stun. The effects were opposite on Zane, though. He felt the noise was reaching an octave that most humans would never reach in any lifetime, and therefore it made beautiful noises to his ears. He admired Cole's inhuman advantage for a brief moment before the snake hurled itself suicidally into the darkness.

A second later, there was the sound of fighting. Zane didn't think it was necessary to attack Cole, but a second later, he was being hurled out of the jail with minuscule force. Cole had somehow managed to break free of his cruel bindings. Zane wished he had back some excessive talent to add to his now plain human form, yet he knew it was foolish to mourn the fact that he was no longer a nindroid. He decided it was better to hold his chin high and root for his specialized ninja brother rather than to wallow in his own issues.

Cole landed lightly on his feet, barely stirring a spec of dust in his graceful descent. Zand watched, awestruck, towards the way Cole practically gleamed in the sunlight. He gave the white ninja a wink before whirling on the bystanding, useless blue snake with the weapon of borne fangs and slick transformation time. Cole slammed the lizard-like creature against the truck's side with a brute force that rocked the vehicle off a set of wheels. Jay made a small whimper. Cole wasnt completely vamped out yet, but Zane saw the effects starting to transform above his real facade just as the snake was raised higher into the air by the tail of inhuman, vampiric strength. With his hand on the snake's meaty throat, Cole gave a grim smile. "You just HAD to be standing out here," Cole rolled his steely irises. Beneath his eyes, the red cracks began to form, his veins allowing themselves to become corporeal with the vampiric change. Zane was yet again blown by the beauty of it all. His science-enjoying mind was rather transfixed on debunking how the process worked.

But Jay, on the other hand, didn't like it at all.

He made noises of fear while backing away from the vampire. Cole hurled the snake farther than normal human hands could manage, the form disappearing into the distance with the shriek from the reptile. Zane gave a cheer when Cole ran to his side with speed faster than lightning. His grip tightened on the constricting bands behind Zane's back and, with a tearing sound, released him from the ropes. Zane rubbed his wrists thankfully and met Cole's slated silver eyes admirably. The vampire gave a pointy smile back. "Thank you, brother!" Zane gasped, holding onto the raw skin where the rope has eaten away at his flesh.

In the instant it took Zane to blink, Cole was already disarming Nya and Kai's sets, pulling apart each rope with angry force. Kai smiled deviously at the vampire with the sly grin of a fox. Nya turned to Cole with a bright—if at all frugal—smile. Zane could trace hints of confusion and even a dab of fear, but he also saw something else sparkle in her eyes. It appeared almost as if she was speculating his movements when tearing apart Garmadon's chains, watching to give herself some pier of closure. Zane wasn't sure what exactly else made her gaze linger on him. Cole turned to Jay, but there was a complication.

Jay recoiled with his eyes so big the whites were clearly visible. Cole paused to give him a look. "Come on, Jay, I gotta get those offa you," Cole reasoned, gesturing towards Jay's heaving body. But Jay stumbled backwards with his breath running heavily like the engine out his mouth. He looked like a deer caught in Zane's headlights: honestly, truly, inexplicably TERRIFIED.

Kai walked towards Cole's side. "Jay, there are more snakes coming," he argued. It was true; more snakes were beginning to arrive at their location by the second. "Let him take them off so we can fight."

Jay refused with a brisk shake of his head. "V-vampire. Y-you're a v-vampire."

"Yes, we've established that; now turn around!" Cole glanced warily at the circle of snakes out for blood. Zane felt slightly claustrophobic.

"Y-you drink blood?" Jay asked in a brittle whisper.

Cole's expression darkened. "I have to if I want to survive, Jay."

Jay inhaled a sharp breath. He shook his head in fear. "Have you..." He swallowed hard. "...Killed people before?"

Cole reached for him without answering, but Jay was stubborn. He jumped back just before the vampire's hands could collide with his person. A very subtle move but extremely effective to help shift his chances. Zane was glad that he was a patient person, able to tolerate stupid things well, yet his brothers didn't seem to have the multiple tanks of endurance that he had. Kai gave an angry groan. That was what triggered Zane's realization that Cole hadn't preferably answered the question.

"We don't have time for this!" Kai exclaimed. "Jay, let him take—"

"He n-never answered me," Jay said loudly, defiantly. He glared Cole in the eye, drawing a slow hiss out of the impatient creature. Zane shivered under the noise. When Jay spoke, his words were drawn out, emphasized and diliberate, his gaze never breaking from Cole's own. "Have you," he said quietly, "ever killed," his voice trembled, "innocent people to save yourself?"

Cole looked uncomfortable, his eyes rolling to cover his insecurity. Zane saw past it immediately. "Jay, this is dumb. Give me your—"

"HAVE YOU!" Jay shouted. Zane jumped. "EVER KILLED! TO FEED YOURSELF!"

Cole glanced away. Kai discreetly glared at him, but it didn't work.

"ANSWER ME!" Jay yelled. "TELL ME!"

"YES!" Cole shouted back. Zane got smacked in the face by the words. "I HAVE! I'VE KILLED SO MANY PEOPLE I FILLED UP A FREAKING JOURNAL WITH THEIR NAMES! I HAVE _SUCKED THEM DRY TO KEEP MYSELF ALIVE AND HAVEN'T THOUGHT TWICE ABOUT IT!_ ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?" At Jay's stunned expression, Cole seethed, thrusting out his hands to twirl Jay completely. With that, he latched his hooked fingers onto Jay's ropes. They fell an instant later to the ground in a flutter that embarked a still silence in the group. Zane didn't quite know how to process any of what Cole had just said, by no means to judge him, but rather to just think about them. It was no surprise to him that his friend had killed. No one could be a vampire without a guilty charge of at least killing one person, no matter who it was, or what consequence came at the hand of their death. Someone, with the descent of fangs to their vein, had to die for a vampire to live.

So, no, Zane didn't blame Cole for being a murderer. And nor would he ever.

Jay was still in shock, still trying his understanding of the world with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. Kai shoved him out of his daze. "You asked for it," he said, defensive of his brother. "Now knock it off, and help me kick some—"

Laughter parted his words. Zane whirled around to finally face the towering building he had first viewed in release of the kennel. He knew deep within his heart that he had been here before, had WALKED this place before, all without knowing what renovations had diffused within this unholy school. He found himself whispering, under the arch of the school's gate, a noise of complete angst. Cole, too, seemed to comprehend their whereabouts. "Well, well. If it isn't Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys."

"Why are we here?" Kai Asked lowly.

"Because this is your new home!" called a voice. Zane's eyes rested on the unholy, stout figure of a familiar cloaked creature standing in the doorway. Zane's fists clenched tightly. "Welcome, my hated ninja, to your eternal residence—the Tombs of Despair!"

Kai's face scrunched at the sound of it. "That sounds more like a ride at Mega Monster Amusement Park, rather than some hell you think you can just shove us into."

"Wasn't it 'Caves of Despair', last I heard it?" Cole asked. He tapped his fingers on his chin. Zane stifled a smile for his silly brethren; even amid the chaos and possible death, they still found a way to make everything less tense. He turned to Eloquim's fuming, haunched posture with the knowledge that more jokes were coming his way.

"Are you just too unoriginal to come up with your own title?" Cole continued. Zane noticed he quickly and quietly brushed off previous uncomfort like a spec of worldly dust. "I mean, seriously. Couldn't you call it something cooler?"

"Or maybe something more friendly, like the Tombs of Loveable, Plush Animals That Won't Rip Off My Face?" Jay input quietly. He still looked terrified, but stormed on through the discomfort by cracking hopeful jokes. Zane offered him a pleased smile, which earned him a cautious half grin back. What he'd learned from Cole must really have frightened him. He didn't consider that Jay would be the one to step lightly on the ice around Cole's vampirism. In fact, he had secretly wished the Ninja of Lightning would embrace the inhumanity in Cole just as he'd adored the nindroid in Zane.

Eloquim should've been scowling under that hood. Zane was prepared to reach out to sense the action before ungraciously realizing that he didn't have the sense to extend anymore. He sighed heavily while erecting his posture beside his brethren. Then, he heard the growls of the snakes behind them. Closing in on the Ninja, the snakes were slowly herding them into the Darkley's property to induce a closure for the heroes. Zane realized this too late, of course, and a gate dropped from the sky just as they stepped within the fence. The entrance was closed for good.

They were stuck inside with Eloquim.

Oh, God.

Eloquim chuckled darkly. Garmadon, at Zane's side, stirred the air with a growl of his own. He seemed tensely infuriated, which Zane found good, because they needed all the hate to propel them into defeating this bastard once and for all.

Realizing this may be their one chance to finally stop the Shadow Dancer, Zane took on a defensive stance. A moment later, his intelligent brothers mimicked him, each wearing their determined expressions as smoothly as the clothes on their backs. Zane was proud.

Garmadon seemed not to understand. "What did you do with my son?!" He shouted. He bent to retrieve an indigenous rock from the dirt, then hurled it at the hellhound creature on Darkley's steps. The pebble missed, though, and bounced aimlessly off of the faded gray stone makeup of the building's foundation. Eloquim chuckled again.

"Don't have the sucker," Eloquim admitted with a sigh. "Although it would be nice if I did. Unfortunately, your son is in the Underworld and is just about to have a date with Death's son himself."

"WHAT?!" Jay, Cole, Garmadon, and Nya cried simultaneously. Zane slapped his palm into his face. That was smooth, Eloquim. Reeaaalll smmmooothhhh...

**KAI**

When no one else did, Kai understood who Death's son was. He thought back to his conversation with his father in the Elemental Temple, facing the fury and abandonment from the one person in Kai's world that could've mattered but never did. The memory scattered in his brain when he wracked it for the name. Oh, what was the name...

"Noel!" he suddenly gasped through gritted teeth. The others glanced a him, but his heated gaze fixed on the crooked form of the short Shadow Dancer. He hated this ugly bastard. "He's with Noel? Why?"

Kai never knew his brother, that much can be disclosed right now. He didn't know his face, didn't know his middle name nor his last, didn't know his favorite food or color. But judging solely by what Zara had told he and Zane, it was that Noel liked to follow in his father's footsteps worse than Lloyd had puppy-tailed Garmadon. Whatever Noel was doing with Lloyd couldn't be pretty.

"Let's just say the little pest stumbled on your brother's kingdom," Eloquim rubbed together bare, scaly hands, "and committed plenty felonies. I wouldn't be surprised if Noel wanted to execute him!"

Kai gritted his teeth angrily. The hell if Noel was going to hurt Lloyd. He felt, involuntarily, his fists begin on fire, erupting into serious flames quicker than a match with gas. Eloquim must've seen it under the shade of his hood, but no one had ever actually seen the freak's face. It wasn't anything he figured he'd WANT to see, but one can wonder what kind of acne issues he's gotta be suffering in order to be hiding his hissy face all the time. With a yowl of defiance, Kai hurled his flames outwards towards Eloquim. The fire was quickly stifled, though, by some magical power the weirdo used to deflect and even quench the hungry flame with a bat of his hand. Kai got even angrier.

"NINJAAAAGOOO!" he yelled, spinning into the fiery tornado of anger. The others followed his lead, except Zane's Spinjitzu lacked element. Boy, he had to be regretting giving up his powers now! Kai found himself landing back on his feet, shooting fireballs towards the creature standing on the porch of an evil school, with a completely different outfit on. Somehow, the Spinjitzu had transformed his body to be clad in the suit he'd gained from the Elemental Realm. He grinned when he saw the others—except Zane, Garmadon, and Nya—had done the same. Garmadon twisted in a dark purple tornado of Spinjitzu and knocked aside one of the snake henchmen who were pouring from around the backyard of Darkley's. Nya found a stick and started smacking people with it. Zane used his combative moves to attack, kicking, punching, and defeating with his ninja skills. Kai grabbed the beak of a snake and lit his hand on fire. The snake screamed in pain.

Lightning shot past him at a looming snake that Kai hadnt noticed. He glanced thankfully at Jay, who gave a feeble smile back. He punched another snake in the snout.

Cole didn't use his elemental powers too much. Instead, his face contorted, glazing over with his transition again; he ferally howled into the air when attacking snakes like a pair of cats tussling. Kai kicked a snake in the throat while yelling to Jay, "Where are they coming from?"

Jay didn't look like he knew how to answer. He'd gone a pale white around the same time that Cole had transformed. Kai hadn't anticipated how much it would affect Jay. Really, it wasn't so bad, if you looked past the fact that Cole was still Cole, fangs or not. It just seemed that Jay didn't like the idea too much. He was white as a sheet while slowly attacking his opponents. Behind him, Nya took out a whole six snakes with a twirl with her extended stick. Kai grinned to himself while burning out the throat of a Fangpyre general. That's my sister, he thought happily when she beat one over the head.

Garmadon punched a snake in the gut before snapping its neck. Cole had already done this multiple times. He seemed reluctant to take a bite out of any of the reptiles (something Kai didn't blame him for) but with his vampiric transformation, he seemed better able to operate around the hordes of them. Jay struggled with three gangly snakes at once. Kai moved to help him, but was bowled over by an attacker of his own...

**JAY**

"H-help!" he found himself yelling when he was overcome by the multiple snakes overriding him. The snake's spit flew off their fangs and tongues into his face. He fell beneath their weight, back hitting the ground with the breath knocked out of him. Was this really how Jay Walker would end, being consumed by creepy snakes hovering over him? He lashed out with his feet and fists eminating electricity, but the snakes kept coming. Oh, man, he was so hooped...

And then suddenly, there was light. He opened his clenched eyes to see each snake being plucked off of him by some supernaturally, UNnaturally strong force. A warrior snake screamed loudly when Cole grabbed it by the throat and tossed it aside. When he turned back to the startled Jay, his vampire face was fading back to his normal one, more benefit for the frightened lightning ninja than himself. He held out his hand to Jay to help him to his feet. After a panting second of hesitation, Jay reached up to clasp Cole's gloved hand in his own, letting the strong ninja pull him upwards. He got to his feet with a dazed fog over his mind.

"Thanks," he managed to gasp out. He didn't know what else to say. Cole gave a brisk nod.

"Dont mention it," Cole answered as his face began to transform. He focused his sights on something beyond Jay. Horrified, Jay could only watch before a half an instant later, the vampire ninja was gone.

**COLE**

Cole shoved aside the snake while glaring into the sky at Eloquim, perched high atop the porch of Darkley's. Fury bubbled up inside of him. He was enjoying being able to rip apart the stupid things creeping around him like they thought they were _so stealthy. _Eloquim, the whole time, had his sights zeroed in on Cole; if he wasn't so confident in himself, he may have squirmed. Shoving aside a random snake, Cole snapped his jaws at one who grabbed his neck. What? It was a defense mechanism! Doesn't mean you ned to look at him funny!

He tried hard not to think about the way that Jay looked at him whenever he walked by. The blue ninja looked constantly afraid of Cole. It wasn't like he was going to _eat _him, for God's sake; it was Jay. However much their feud may have bore down on their relationship, he wouldn't ever hurt his friend by the offense of his disgusting true form. He'd already sworn as much when he first met the gang. Not only was he stressing over Jay, but he also learned that Lloyd was in the Underworld, and hopefully he wasn't alone...Cole wished he could somehow give Lloyd some way to know that everyone was okay, and that they would save him. But...that was impossible, right?

He broke the neck of a snake and turned to Eloquim with a faint tickle on his senses. And when he turned...Well, let's just say he was glad that he did.

**_"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!"_** Kai screamed when his eyes fell on the huge, golden Mega Weapon resting gently in Eloquim's grasp. The Shadow Dancer stroked its finery with purrs of pleasure. Cole felt his fists clench, felt Garmadon at his side freeze, and the rest of the Ninja come to a sudden halt. Where could he have gotten that? He could've sworn they'd gotten rid of that thing when they had traveled back in time. Hell, he _knew _they had, because Lloyd didn't know what it was when the term 'Mega Weapon' was brought up. The Mega Weapon had been _destroyed, nothing, kaput. _Where would Eloquim get it if it didn't exist anymore?

Eloquim rubbed the hilt like a genie bottle. "Oh, you know. Flea Markets these days." He chuckled. "But furthermore, I think that you should more than likely _stop _fighting, or I think you just might find yourself in a hole deeper than you previously dug."

Garmadon looked mesmerized. Cole couldn't help but stare, too, although Garmadon's purposes were probably way different than his. He rubbed his wrist, aching from the sting of a snake bite on his arm. He hoped it wasn't a Venomari who had sunk their teeth into the vampire's skin...

Eloquim held the top of the Weapon into the air, waving it in circles. "You all should be punished for your stupidity," said the dark dancer, "but for now, I have a better idea. Oh, my helpful friend, would you please come out? I think that our little Ninja need some waking up to do..."

Before Cole could blink, he saw the Falcon swirling in the air above them. Eloquim seemed not to notice, but as always, Zane did. He grinned up at his strange friend. Kai followed the line of rays towards the bird who brought good luck, and he, too, took it as a sign that they didn't have to listen to any moody Shadow Dancer. Cole just met Kai's gaze when there was a loud, menacing screech- but it hadn't come from the bird. Oh, great, just what they needed; Cole turned, prepared to find some fiesty seagull swooping for some lunch, but instead found a big, black mass heading straight for—

_"DUCK!" _

"WHAT IS THAT?!"

"But—I thought—Didn't Lloyd kill him?!"

"_HOW IS HE BACK?!"_

"Oh, my God!"

"**GARMADON, LOOK OUT!" **The overly large, black dragon descended over Darkley's, casting a shadow with its large wingspan. The Overlord's monster returned with a loud, triumphant laugh; it started to drop down on Garmadon with his jowls flapping constantly. Cole felt himself go into panic mode. The snakes around Garmadon began to run. _Oh, God, help me now! _Cole thought when he realized that he wouldn't be fast enough to make it to good ol' Garmy in time. He looked down at the hard earth beneath him.

The _earth._

He summoned every ounce of power he had within him: every drop of strength, every live nerve, everything stirring inside of him. He took all of his emotions and turned them into rock hard, actually _useful _elements of himself, and focused his power down towards his feet. He wanted, more than anything, for this to work. If any of them could find their way around the Underworld, it was Garmadon. If Cole could kick a crack deep enough into the ground it sent him into that wretched Otherworld, then maybe, he could find Lloyd and at least provide the support the little guy needed... Trying not to worry that this would fail, Cole took a deep breath. _Focus, _he thought, channeling his inner Sensei Wu. _FOCUS, Cole. Focus..._

He lifted his foot and brought it down hard on the ground.

The earth split within seconds, the crack travelling at lightning fast speeds towards the former Dark Lord, who was consumed by the Overlord's serpent-like shadow. The old man was ducking like his raised hands were going to save his life, but Cole could feel the force of the earthly tremor rumbling throughout the earth. Everything silenced with the earthquake that ripped the ground in half. Garmadon barely had time to glance back at the split traveling quickly towards him. Cole prayed with all his might—the Overlord's claws were almost on him! Oh, _pleaaasssssseee just this once listen to my prayers ahhhhhhhhhh somebody pleeeaaassseeee—_

A second before the slick black dragon could grab him, Garmadon fell, feet first, into the thick crack of the earth where the Overlord could never follow.

* * *

***le gasp* Will Garmadon make it to the Underworld, or will Cole's plan fail and he'll die in this random crack in the earth? **

**PLEASE REVIEW GUYS! What did you think of it? And, as always, GO HAVE AN AWESOME DAY/NIGHT! X)**

**Always and forever, Kairi**


	22. Chapter 21: Oh, the Irony

**I know I promised Pure Lloyd Action, but this came up. You'll hear one last time from Caroline…but you also learn a little bit more about her past and some of the characters she's affiliated with. I hope you like it as much as I liked writing it! ^^**

_21. Oh, the Irony_

"COME ON, PEOPLE, we need to _move," _shouted Caroline over the dull roar of constant bodies in motion. The ship was practically empty of its riches, all discarded into the bed of the dump truck sitting on the dock, waiting to take off. Droid after possessed droid leaped over the side. Pythor slithered happily along the chipped planks, waving his arms to move everyone along. Word had just sent in from Eloquim that they needed to move _now. _

"You too, princess," Caroline snapped towards the Original Vampire, hovering longingly over Darreth's corpse, her chin dripping blood all over the ground. She turned a black glare on the nindroid that had no effect on her. "Eloquim said if you don't come, he's going to stake Cole, and I'm guessing he's the eye of your prize," Caroline observed, batting on Sylver, who lingered momentarily over the side of the boat before hauling himself over the edge. Hardly anyone but Caroline, Pythor, Kiko Maya, and Sensei Wu was left. The controlled sensei observed with his slick green eyes.

"I'm coming, O Marvelous One," snarled Kiko. She kicked Darreth's body out of the way with her flats. Caroline didn't develop any kind of soft spot for the childish vampire, instead rather annoyed with the fact that she was even here. Eloquim had forced them to briefly meet a week ago, which she wasn't particularly happy about, but complied. Though Caroline actually admired Cole for his strength and leader-like ability, she wasn't too fond of him to try and save his life with a couple of bargains. Kiko seemed to only exist in the whole _Eloquim Equation _solely for the fact that she would take the earth ninja off of his scaly black hands for a petty price—desperate enough, it seemed, to bargain another's life for it. Eloquim hadn't revealed to Caroline, who was practically his second in command, who exactly it was that Kiko put up for auction, but then again, Caroline didn't think she cared. Her only priority now was to get everyone off this boat before the Big Eater came—because when he did, he wasn't going to listen to _Caroline, _even if Eloquim had slightly tamed him.

"You better," Caroline threatened. Pythor rubbed his purple claws together in anticipation. "I'm not going to explain to Eloquim why _you're _not showing up for class."

Kiko whirled, her orange gown fanning out around her in a gentle, blooming flower petal formation. She gave Caroline the _Look of the Slitted Eyes. _"I said I was coming," she growled. "Or weren't you programmed with hearing aids?"

Caroline tolerantly rolled her eyes. Kiko was _definitely _childish. As Misako had explained to the ice ninja (who actually was admittedly failing at being a ninja at all,) the only reason Kiko arrived was by chasing Cole for miles on end to escape with her before any bargain with Eloquim had to be struck. Caroline found herself disinterested, though, in any kind of stupid, childish thing that Kiko might want to engage in. After all, from what Care knew, there were only two vampires currently in existence. It had been briefly explained to her by Pythor _and _Skales the day that Kiko even managed to slip into this whole deal that vampires can only ever create _one _other vampire in their lifetime to continue the sire line, which was kind of like a family tree for vampires. One created another, and that another created one more, and so on the cycle continued until the race of vampires infected a total country. But of course, the Original Vampire, made by a witch named Katzya back before time had a name, was the only vampire who could create _one _vampire and give birth to a vampire child, which then could also help carry out the sire line. Pythor and Skales weren't complete on the details of the rumor yet, but it was said that the child of the Original Vampire would have the ability to create _more _than just the one allowed. Caroline figured the whole "one" thing had to do with a vampire's blood being so pungent and pure for so long. She was no vampire expert, really. But in continuance: Kiko had used up her one chance on Cole when they were, what was it, twelve? She had changed him, then hoped to someday have his vampire baby, but Cole apparently had other plans. Care really didn't blame him for not wanting to knock her up; she was pretentiously frightening.

Eloquim had also explained, on the side to Caroline, that Kiko had a "mystic bond" on her own. Upon explanation, Care found out that Kiko had mentally, physically and, well, _mystically _linked herself to the little sister of Cole in hopes to use her as leverage one day. It seemed like whatever happened to Kiko _also _happened to the sister. So, ultimately, when Kiko started to go insane after turning Cole into a vampire, so did Cole's little sister. This came as quite the sucker punch to Care's knowledge. She was surprised to find that the girl Cole was so desperate to find hadn't brought on such horrors to herself. When Cole had tried to describe his sister to Care when they were "investigating" Lloyd and the girl's whereabouts, he'd barely touched the subject, lightly skimming over it without much of an explanation, but he'd said that his sister—oh, what was her name?—was less than sane. He had told her multiple times that it just "sprung up" as if spontaneously she developed a brain disease overnight. Kiko's mystic bond with her made the whole scheme make sense.

Either way, Care wasn't really in the mood for arguing. She waved away Kiko's stubbornness with a flick of her fingers. Pythor laughed at the unsubtle way she brushed off an Original Vampire who honestly had the potential to kill her. Not that Caroline was afraid. She looked towards Sensei as he sighed slovenly. "We must be on our way," he said, and nodded to Pythor. "Let us leave the ship now. I can sense the Devourer is getting close."

Caroline nodded. "Off you go," she waved at Kiko and Sensei. "I have some personal items I want to grab first. But wait," She pointed at Pythor commandingly. "You—I want you to make sure that Rikku is _still _asleep. You hear me? I don't want him waking up. And _you," _she pointed at Kiko with a sudden idea. "You hungry?"

A look of approval spread across Kiko's unblemished face. "Of course."

Caroline spoke levelly. She showed no mercy. "I know you can do the job well. I want there to be _terror. _Full-fledged screaming and fear, cries for help, calls to the police. Go attack those people down there who want to point and watch." She nodded towards the observers. A flash of excitement skidded across Kiko's face. "And make sure that the reporter down there gets a taste of it, too. I want _everyone _to know we're coming."

Kiko glanced down at Gayle Gossip, standing in front of the truck with her microphone close to her mouth, camera pointed towards her face, and hair still ridiculously poufy. Caroline didn't enjoy reporters' presences, but she figured Kiko would have fun with it, more so than Care would. The cracks of veins started to spread beneath Kiko's black eyes hungrily. "My _pleasure," _she managed to gasp before hurling herself over the side at the reporter's risk. Pythor laughed evilly.

"Caroline, my dear, you've done it again!" he howled, and followed Sensei over the side. Care watched them go with a dim interest before turning back to the dead, mechanically whirring body of Dani, sprawled across the deck at an awkward angle. The two had never been close, but there was always an unconventional bond in between siblings; Caroline found herself striding towards the fraternal sister no one ever knew about.

Caroline was born first, but Dani immediately came a second later. Dani looked more like their mother did, with the honey golden locks and pretty, round face, lightly chiseled blue eyes, and full, pink lips. Dani always was the pretty one, the sister everyone admired for her looks, the one who had a million marriage requests coming her way. Father listened to the way Danielle wanted to marry a man whom she loved rather than a sought out, planned one; Mother had been pleased that Danielle could be a happy wife _and _a pretty one. Within days of turning sixteen, Dani had been married off to an equally as handsome man named Elomne von Teufel, whom Caroline despised for his pointy fox grin and face. She didn't think he was to be trusted, but if Danielle thought it was fine to jump into marriage with him, so be it…

Three years later, after Caroline had both met and loved Zane, Danielle appeared on the doorstep with heavy tears in her eyes and a child in her arms. The baby was pale, fragmented, with blue lips, sunken cheeks. His beautiful mane of golden hair matched his mother's to the perfect shade. The boy could never have been any older than two, but looked dead from within as well as out. Danielle had fallen against her sister with _horrific _sobs. Father had been away in the market (at this time in life, the Clockwork Army was only Caroline, Rikku, Zane, and Angus) so he hadn't known that Danielle returned from Birchwood Forest, her home with Elomne, and nor had Caroline ever told him. It was a sad and dark evening, but to this day, Caroline hadn't thought twice about it. She knew the truth.

"_I only wanted him to be protected," _she could practically heard Dani whisper into her ear as she bent to stroke her sister's destroyed panel, her softened cheeks. When Caroline blinked, the world around her was replaced by the memory that burned darkly in her brain. "_I—I used Mama's grimoire to create a spell that would bind him from getting the plague. Arachnaeus."_

_"You used Mama's grimoire?!" _Caroline shouted. She could see Dani standing in front of her, disheveled, a mother's tears falling down her cheeks in dirty streaks. With her son lying across the kitchen's table, wrapped in a warm, ragged green blanket. The smell of death permeated Care's face once more even though it was so long ago. It was rancid, plagued definitely, although not by the disease. The book of witchcraft that had been studied, _poured _over by Dani and the company of Mother was supposed to be locked away after death. It contained every spell that had ever existed in their witch's history. The term "witch" that Dani lived by now wasn't just because she was good with herbs and mixtures, it was also because she had before _practiced, _with Mama at her side and performing with her. Care, of course, had been a Papa's daughter and liked to tinker rather than cast spells, but Dani had been good about using that to her advantage. When Caroline would turn her back, Danielle would have already used a twitch of her nose or the bat of her eyelash to make something of Caroline's move, or disappear, or even turn upside down so her mechanism went completely wrong before she could process what actually happened to her near-perfect invention. It was completely irritating, but Mama had only said it was Danielle _blooming _in witchcraft like Care _bloomed _in tinkering. Of course, back then, witches were frowned upon, slain for their spells. Thank God Mama had only died from old age.

Caroline blinked through the stray sheen of memory in her eyes, but it stayed. She saw Dani from all those years ago staring at her with wide, scared eyes. _"Please, Caroline, I know I shouldn't have taken it, but—but aside from that, I—I did something in the spell wrong, but I need you to help me complete the spell that will bring him back. Please. I'm begging you. I need your help. Even though you don't practice, you still have Mama's blood in you, and that's enough. Please."_

_"I don't have Mama's blood anymore, but I'll try," _Caroline had growled flatly. Dani hadn't understood then, but Caroline had been willing to try anyway, because what heartless creature did she have to be to just let her sister mourn her son's death when something could be done about it? Producing from her bag, Danielle had slapped the huge, thick grimoire onto the table. As Care remembered it, the leather was rough, worn out, and the pages were yellowed and uneven. Dani had quickly flipped through the pages in abhorrence, flying through them quicker than Care would have, because of course she knew them all like the back of her hand. At that point, as she was skimming through them, Caroline hadn't been able to take her eyes off of the beautiful little boy resting in front of her. He was so _young…_

Dani had yanked out candles by the dozen, placing them in four spaces around her son's body: one above his head, one just to his left, and another to his right. Caroline had offered to find a match, but Danielle insisted it had to be done without one. "_Incendere venire," _Dani had murmured in Latin. It flowed fluidly from her tongue. "_Venire minibus meis ad!"_

The candles had lit immediately after Danielle's command. Care had jumped without expecting it to happen; with magic, Dani had lit the wax sticks. It could've amazed Caroline if she wasn't so bitter towards her perfect sister—who now didn't seem so perfect after accidentally killing her son. With the grimoire open in front of her, Dani told Caroline, _"I need you to hold your hands over his body and focus your energy into your palms. We're going to transfer some of our life force into him." _

Caroline did as she was told, remaining the pinpoint of her focus while also concentrating on Dani's pale, tear-streaked face. Sniffling, Dani held out her own hands to glance down at the grimoire's rotting text as she read from its deadly Spellbook. _"Ex hac parte i vocaverit vos," _she chanted lowly. _"Vivere me vis interius. Trado dilectionem virtute salutem. Vos resurget in caro. Vos resurget in caro. Vos resurget in caro, VOS RESURGET IN CARO, VOS RESURGET—"_

The flames in the candles rose higher every time Dani repeated that sentence. Caroline remembered feeling the heat of fire practically skimming her bare arms, but fought to remain focus. Her twin's face squeezed with the struggle to fight against nature's will—obviously, nature wasn't fond of those who rose again from the dead. Care watched while her sister's voice rose while battling mother nature—battling Katzya, the first witch—to obtain back her son's departed soul. Elomne had never been aware that Danielle was a witch. Care's hands suddenly began to strengthen and muscles tighten with the pull of whatever power Dani was calling on, grabbing at the inner force she offered. With Dani screaming that Latin sentence repeatedly, the fire lifting heavily into the sky, Caroline had heard the squeaking slam that she'd hoped to avoid.

"_Carolyne?" _Zane had called worriedly. The boys must have heard them from the fields, then. Of course they would; Care didn't know why she thought that they wouldn't. He ran into the room with Rikku at his tail, only to stumble to a stop. Dani hollered her spell into the air without missing a beat, but Caroline's focus couldn't quite stay pinpointed. She silently cursed Zane for being so caring. _"What are you doing? Who…Who is that?" _

_"Vos resurget in caro," _Dani whispered finally, breaking away her screams. With her eyes squeezed shut, Dani tilted back her chin. "Come to me, my son…Come home to Mama…"

Caroline felt a yank in her stomach, something tugging on her insides from beyond. It ripped a _huge _chunk out of whatever Care was offering, taking it for its own. She felt like it was still missing—and to that _brat _of a kid. With a gasp, Zane and Rikku joined Care in observing the way the little boy's sunken cheeks began to restore back to full color, losing their hollowness. He began to gain back the light skin tone, the beautiful shimmer of his golden locks. Caroline watched, awestruck, as Dani brought her son _back. _

The little boy's blue eyes flew open. And the flames of the wax candles died.

Caroline's hands dropped back to her sides, her form heavy and limp. Zane ran towards her with that affectionate way of his, the one she now couldn't stand, catching her when her mechanical joints refused to hold her weight any longer. Rikku awkwardly observed the little boy and Dani's sweaty face. Care's twin dropped down beside her reborn son and pulled him close to her. _"Oh, my love, oh, Mommy's here, Mommy's here. Oh, my baby…Mommy is so sorry. Mommy is sorry…" _

Zane pulled Caroline's head to rest in the hollow of his shoulder. "_What were you doing?" _He asked. Caroline squeezed shut her eyes. _"Was that…"_

_"Witchcraft?" _Caroline laughed humorlessly. It caught the normally ready Zane off guard. _"Yeah, it was. Our mother was a witch. And apparently, my sister is a practicing one." _Caroline turned to glare at her twin and the grimoire, but instead she found a rather peculiar predicament. Over the baby boy's shoulder, Dani's head rested, thankfully beginning to squeeze her son tighter to her. She was sobbing, but her tears were dribbling down _gray cheeks. _Caroline pried herself from Zane's arms to watch, partially expecting all of this mumbo jumbo but always a little caught away by it, Dani's cheeks begin to sink, her hair begin to gray, her body begin to emit the smell of rigor mortis. Care blinked when Dani began to realize the effects of the spell she'd just made. Dani gasped, letting go of her son, to hold out her arms to watch herself begin to die.

_"NO!" _she screamed. Her son began to cry in fear, stumbling backwards, waving his arms for someone to save him from the zombie who replaced his prosperous, beauteous mother. Rikku ran forward to grab the child who began to fall over the table's edge. The baby continued to scream, and Dani continued to die. She looked to the unfazed Caroline in fear. "_No! This wasn't supposed to happen!"_

"_You can't upset the balance of nature like that," _Caroline remembered from what her mother had told her once. _"If you wanna bring someone back, then you have to have a life to sacrifice in replacement."_

_"But I offered you!" _Dani shrieked, tears running down her face. _"I told the spirits they could have you!" _

Caroline blinked. It had the potential to hurt knowing that her twin sister would've willingly given her up for her own child, but at this point in life Caroline no longer cared about her sister. She gave a bitter smile to the girl who illegally practiced black magic—the blackest magic of all, _resurrection—_and hoped that Dani would feel the pain of it. "_There isn't any other human in this room but you." _Dani hadn't been informed of Caroline's rebirth as a droid, and for her sister to pay, Caroline watched the pain scatter across her face. The bones in her face and shoulders were becoming visible. She was a walking skeleton, death itself reignited, and Caroline was prepared to let her sister suffer for being so completely perfect when Caroline was nothing. She let go of Zane to walk up to the trembling, dying sister who could only stare in confusion. A moment later, the corpse fell over dead, murdered by black magic's plague over the Arachnaeus Caroline would later claim took her life. She forced Zane and Rikku to stay silent about it so her father would never know what she'd done. Remembering this day well, Caroline had stood over Dani's dead body with her chin sticking out defiantly. She gave a smirk, knowing that for once, Care had won. _"Don't worry," _she'd whispered to her sister, _"we'll bring you back someday. But I want to appreciate the sight of you like this for a little longer…"_

Caroline blinked away the memory. Here she was, once again staring at her sister's dead body, only this one was a little sturdier than her previous supple one. Danielle just never learned that Caroline would _always _be on top. She would _always _be there, one step ahead of her, one second before her, just like their birth. Where Dani tried to move ahead, Caroline already anticipated the move. That's how their sibling's rivalry worked. And Care was completely, totally, blissfully okay with it. Because for the second time in a row, Caroline had _won._

She thought back to Danielle's son. So scared, cuddled in Rikku's arms, so completely heartbroken. It was easy to feel sorry for the baby, because Care could sympathize with having no mother. After all, Dani had taken away Mama from Caroline before they could have a relationship as strong as the one Care had with Julien. Rikku had watched everything with that same cool, collected observance he always wore—the aspect Caroline had loved—while comforting the wriggling child in his arms. She had decided that, at that point in time, there would be no use in keeping it. She stole the feeble baby from Rikku's arms and commanded, _"You two clean up this mess, and just—just get her body out of here, please. We can't have Father knowing about this just yet." _

_"Where are you going?" _Rikku had asked tolerantly. Caroline tucked an auburn wave out of her eyes while fastening her shawl around her shoulders to keep her from the sun.

_"I'm going to see who wants a baby." _

_"You're going to give away the baby?!" _Zane cried. Caroline had watched him levelly.

_"We can't keep it. He'll be better off with some other family who isn't so…weird." _With that, Caroline had stalked out of the house, riding Rikku's horse, Constantine, out into the town. She had planned for, well, passing off the baby to someone else, but her plan became plenty more devised when she actually thought about her excuse of giving up the baby. It was easy to give him up, actually—when she found the right pair of parents, anyway. The sky had been bright, and Caroline feigned illness, wandering through the streets with a sluggish gait to her stride with the crying baby cradled in her arms. Hood drawn over her eyes, Care pretended as best she could to be a sickly, young mother searching for her baby's servitude. Many people passed by, willing to help, but in the Fireman's Circle (back then more of a vacation area than a town) there was no one catching her eye. She was growing tired, angry as minutes turned to hours that clocked by, without being able to find a reliable pair of parents for Dani's reborn son. The toddler squeezed at her neck, pleading with her that he was hungry, but of course Caroline didn't have anything to give him. She finally fell in a collapsed heap beside an eatery from the heat and frustration. Was everyone really so sick and evil that they couldn't just be _nice _people?

Caroline pulled the baby underneath her chin, panting. The sun was baking into her system, pushing it into overdrive. She wasn't feeling very well. Oh, how _godawful _this was…Why was Dani so stupid as to kill her son by accident in the first place? Caroline began to weep atop the baby's head, her joints feeble. She'd have to somehow drag herself back to Constantine so she could ride home in vain. They would keep the baby, then, it seemed…

_"Are you alright?" _

Caroline had whirled her head around to find a couple standing above her, concerned. She almost didn't extend her senses to check if they were likeable people or not. Giving up with the idea that she'd never find anyone was there, but in the end, she was glad that she had. The young couple standing above her was made up of a tall, brown haired man and a shorter, brown haired woman. She blinked kindly down at the panting girl and came to kneel by her side. She had pretty, friendly brown eyes, that much Care noted. The husband of the two stood over them, and Care saw that his eyes were ever so slightly a shade of red. He had extremely pale skin as well. It made her frown to herself, but make herself look sicker for the purpose of reeling in these dumb suckers. She panted heavier while looking down at the sobbing child in her arms.

_"I…I am too weak to raise my son," _she said softly, patting the boy's head. He sobbed harder. _"I can't…I need someone to take him from me. I don't think I could survive any longer. I cannot let him die with my immorality. Please. I am barely hanging on; I want him to live a full, happy life…please, miss, I am begging of you your utmost dedication to my son." _The woman looked heartbroken for Caroline. She reached forward to gently tug the baby from Care's limp arms; it was actually hard to move them with the baking heat. The child seemed to become more at peace in the young woman's loving arms, its screams ceasing, its tears stopping. It was actually quite blissful. After the extension of her senses, Care knew that these two were the ones for Danielle's baby. The husband crouched down at Caroline's side to examine her a little closer, as though he didn't believe her story. He was handsome, that much Caroline would admit, but he was probably far into his twenties. He would never have been someone she took interest to. The woman turned to her husband with a pleading gaze, while he frowned some more at Caroline. Now that she thought about it, his eyes did seem rather red…What kind of eye color was that, anyway? He swept his hair out of his eyes.

_"Oh, look at him," _pleaded the woman. She stroked the little boy's cheeks. Turning to the man, the woman looked hopeful, cradling the child closer to her body._ "Look at him! He must be hungry. And she's so sick…Oh, Garmadon, please?" _

The man—Garmadon—tore his uneasy gaze from Caroline's falsely sick face to his wife's. She pleaded with crystalline eyes. It was just hopeful that maybe they would take this baby, and Care could get back to tinkering back home. This took too long. He reached out to ruffle the little boy's golden mane of hair that perfectly matched Dani's. _"What's his name?" _asked the man.

Caroline realized she _didn't _know the baby's name. She wracked her brain for something, glancing around in consternation. Her eyes fell onto a sign in the doorway for a candy shop owner, and saw that beyond the glass doors, there was a counter for a chocolate brand. _Lloyd's Candy Co., _said the package. Care turned her eyes desperately back to the couple, hoping that they hadn't noticed her pause. "_Lloyd_," she choked. "_It's Lloyd."_

_"Oh, what a beautiful name!" _gasped the woman. She tugged the baby closer to her chest. _"Hello, Lloyd!" _She smiled, but the baby looked confused. Garmadon ticked the baby's chin, still in his crouch, and looked at Caroline again.

"_What's the catch?" _he asked gruffly. His wife glared at him.

_"Not everyone is out to get you, Garmadon!" _scolded the pretty, dark haired woman. Care could've smirked. _"She's dying; she wants what's best for her son. And—and we can't have babies, so…Garmadon, this may be our only chance! Please! Oh, look at how cute he is…Hi, Lloyd! Hi, baby!" _She cooed. Garmadon sighed in defeat, and Caroline's hopes soared higher than the clouds.

_"Fine," _Garmadon growled, but Caroline could see there was a spark of excitement over his face, affection for the little baby. _"But Misako, if there is ANYTHING wrong with this child, I am going to be so mad…"_

Misako gave her husband the happiest look ever. _"Oh, Garmadon, this is so wonderful!" _She gasped, throwing her arms around her husband with "Lloyd" in between them. She planted kisses all over the golden crown of hair. There was a beautiful little dysfunctional family made that day; it was pretty cute to see. The angered robot, however, was just glad to get the stupid thing out of her sight. Caroline watched them with the sudden thought that she should "die" at that exact moment.

So she had.

Caroline snapped back to the present, finding herself still staring at her sister's dead body. Dani's golden halo was strewn around her in perfect mockery of both her real body and her son Lloyd's. _Huh. _Care had never quite gotten around to asking what the baby's name was, not even when she resurrected her sister in the form of a droid. It was tragic how she didn't even know that they had come _this close _to meeting each other in real life; looking at all those paper clippings about how great "Lloyd Garmadon" was without even knowing that the Lloyd in the picture was the same kid that Caroline had given away all those years ago. Of course, a little magic had kept him in tact, kept his aging process slow to drag by the years, but Caroline had been just fine with that. Care had always known that Garmadon hadn't bought her death story in the least. Who would've, except for that fool Misako? Lloyd didn't know he was adopted, but it sure as hell was funny to watch Dani move around without knowing that her son was still alive. Maybe it was because Care was a sadist, but no matter what you called her, she was still Caroline. She chucked aside the part that she'd ripped out of Danielle's chest when she heard the soft patter of feet behind her.

"Do something with her, will you?" she said aloud, turning to face her father, watching her horrifically when he saw that Caroline had murdered her own sister. Caroline stood up, done thinking about her sister forever, and patted the white lab coat pulled over Julien's small shoulders. His eyes were wide beneath his glasses. "Don't let her just…rot. Put that piece back in and do something about it." Though Caroline _despised _Dani, she was still her sister. She snapped out of it, once again the commanding, in-charge Caroline that she was born to be."I would get out of here, if I were you—take this ship, take Dani, and fly back to that island of yours. It's the only place you'll be truly safe. Fix her, do whatever you want with her, but _stay away from here. _Got it?" At Julien's stunned nod of understanding, Caroline went on. "I'd say you have five minutes to get this thing in the air before the Devourer comes. You _have _to, Father. Don't worry about Zane or the others. I'll take _good _care of them."

Caroline patted him once more on the shoulder, walking towards the edge of the boat. Just below, she saw Kiko Maya drive her fangs into Gayle Gossip's throat right in front of the camera—something all of Ninjago was going to see. The screams that came after were like complete and total shrieks of fear, just like she'd hoped to hear. People began to run in opposite directions with those same screams. She gave a smirk. Okay, maybe she could tolerate the Original, as long as she didn't try to bite Care. Turning to look at her father with her foot poised on the railing, Caroline waved. "Goodbye, Father," she said lovingly. Her father had dropped down beside Danielle with a shocked, heartbroken look on his old face. Caroline could've grinned more, but she had work to do. "See you on the flip side!"

Then she hurled herself off the _Bounty 2 _and into the chaos below.

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**PLEASE REVIEW! this chapter was too epic for you NOT to let me know what you're thinking!**

**As always, go have an awesome day/night!**


	23. Chapter 22: And a Pervert

**ANNOUNCEMENTS:**

**I FINALLY UPDATED MY DEVIANTART! YAAAAAYYY more deviations for the NFAN series! PLEASE GO VISIT me on deviantart as KairiVenomus! ^^**

**"DAWN OF THE NINDROIDS" IS FINALLY HERE! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! It's only the prologue, which is teensy, but the next chapter should be out within the next 12 hours. :D But it HAS BEEN POSTED! :DDDDDDDDDD AAHHH *explodes* This should be fun! **

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_22. ...And a Pervert_

THE DINING HALL was nothing like Lloyd was even half expecting it to be. He kind of assumed the door would be thrown open, revealing this beautiful, regal room with a dinner table so long, it could fit the Stone Army around its perimeter, stacked with food of all sorts and , it looked more like…well, like something Lloyd had in his own dining room. The table was short, and the food coverage was exceptionally large, though not to the extent he would've figured. One chandelier lit by candles hung over the table. The excitement that was built up by the fat elf was really misleading. It looked like nothing but a mini-feast during Thanksgiving at home.

The figure at the dinner table sipped blackened wine from a thick-bosomed glass. Awkwardly, Lloyd and Seiko stood in the doorway, waiting for something to happen, but the brown haired guy didn't acknowledge their presence. He seemed greatly intent on downing his glass in one sitting. He tilted the glass higher into the air as Lloyd raised a brow. The black gloved hand curled around the skinny hilt of the cup seemed to tighten its grip as the last drops of the wine disappeared down the boy's throat.

It was pretty strange, and definitely a long moment. The elf man cleared his throat, but it didn't really do much to speed up the situation. Seiko gave Lloyd's bicep a squeeze to earn out of him a reassuring pat on the hand. "What's going on?" she whispered. Lloyd couldn't answer. The boy suddenly slammed down the glass in a scream of shattering pieces, the bits flying through the air like mini knives. It made Seiko jump and shrivel unconditionally backwards.

This was definitely weird, that much Lloyd could give. The boy tilted back his head while the black liquid dribbled down his chin. He was probably fourteen, by the looks of it; he didn't look as experienced enough to be a leader of a completely different realm. He had chocolate brown hair with unconventional spikes to them that averted outwards to the way his straight hair reached his shoulder, almost in a windblown fashion. It wasn't anything as ridiculous as Kai's, but it was well enough a mentally perpetuated part of him that forced Lloyd to see the resemblance. Well, that, and the nose. Kai had a fairly short nose, and this kid shared the same trait. His skin was tan, almost like someone who spent a lot of time on the beach, and his eyes were a bright shade of green. The boy dropped his head to glare outwards.

"Sir!" The elf man jumped into a straighter position. He held his hand to his forehead in a steady salute. Lloyd almost laughed at the little thing, but his emotion didn't feel like showing itself. Letting go of that memory of Kai—which part of the memory he hadn't even told _you, _his readers—had scarred him horrifically. Now, he knew if he thought anything about it, his heart would unconventionally twist, and within him he would feel the channel of withdrawal to begin itself in stupor. But he had to hold his head high. That was his job.

The boy's green eyes flickered towards the elf man, his hand still curled around his cup. He was anything but royally poised. His shirt was long-sleeved, and with an actual _advertisement _labeled across his chest, something in a different language that Lloyd could feel the Tonguespeaker within him try to read. Tiredly, he had to shove away and give up the fight to look deep into Noel's eyes, because that is exactly where Noel was staring; a slow, definitive smile spread across his pale lips, with wine still drizzling down his chin. It made him look extremely…_perverted. _Lloyd wasn't disturbed, but the way this teenaged boy—younger than him—was devouring his image made him want to feel extremely uncomfortable. Inside, though, there was nothing.

Seiko sniffed. "Twinkies? You in there?" She grumbled lowly for only him to hear. "Come on, don't make me start calling you Cupcakes to get your attention."

"He's staring at us," Lloyd murmured softly in her direction without breaking eye contact with Noel. He tried to assess the emotion going through the boy's mind while also figuring a way to explain the situation to an impatient Seiko, while avoiding the mishap of making her uncomfortable. He was pretty sure that Seiko could bend him into a chair if she wanted to, which made it even more likely that she'd react with violence if she were to be in extreme discomfort. Lloyd felt like keeping his usual humanoid figure today. "And he was just drinking wine. The room is, well, kinda small—"

"I already _knew_ that, Twinks," Seiko answered back without bothering to lower her voice. Lloyd winced. "I can sense all the stuff around me 'cause I can't see it." Lloyd tried to un-hear the way he heard remorse in her voice. "I _meant, _why is nobody sitting? I don't like standing."

Noel was the first to break eye contact after Seiko revealed her uncanny weakness of standing. His gaze poked the fat elf like a finger prodding for gold amid a bowl of gelatin. "Exactly, Yaujko, why _aren't _they sitting? Are you being _paid _to torture my guests? Pull them a chair, you cretin!" Even though he sounded like he needed another hit of puberty, Noel's voice rose to a commanding roar, practically shaking the rocky candled chandeliers. Lloyd felt Seiko shiver.

"Whoa. Issues," she grumbled.

_"Behave," _Lloyd hissed in her ear like he was speaking to a child. Normally, he would've felt stupid. Noel had the potential to _release _them; if Seiko angered him and screwed it up for both their short lives, he didn't think he would ever be able to forgive her.

Seiko didn't seem to take him seriously. In fact, Lloyd didn't think she took _anything _he said seriously. The elf responded with yanking out one of the mahogany-set chairs for the first one intent on sitting, which Lloyd immediately maneuvered Seiko to. She rolled her blank grey eyes at nothing. "_Chivalrous," _she hissed lowly as he held out his palm with her fingers clasped in it, more so to help her walk around the chair with that huge dress rather than to offer the romantic assistance she was assuming he was trying to give. She unsubtly swished around her skirts in attempt to find a proper sitting position with her face scrunched into an amusing grimace of concentration. Once she managed to get the huge skirts to lay properly, Seiko forced the chair closer to the table. The noise dragged with the chair's legs against the marble floor. It was the only sound remaining, echoing off the dark walls like a drum's beat from within.

When she was settled, the elf man pushed Lloyd to the other side of the table across from her, next to the substantially creepy Noel, who watched his every move. The chairs weren't as plush as could be expected from a rich family. Lloyd felt no need to complain, rather, and glared down at the reflective red plate poised in front of him against the black-clothed table. In the middle of the buffet was what looked like a roasted, deformed pig-cat. It had the tail of the feline, plus the shivering toasted whiskers, but the small snout of a wrinkled pig shunned of the cat hair it looked like it needed. It even had a pair of hooves, plus a second wave of paws in the back of the set of legs. Other little plates of suspicious eateries were poised fractiously across this teensy table. Across the expanse, Seiko wiggled her nose uncomfortably, eyebrow raised in boredom.

"Okay. _Silence _is dumb," she said loudly. Noel's eyes disappeared from Lloyd to actually look at the fine-dressed blind girl. She stared straight ahead in front of her, practically looking right at Lloyd, if it weren't for her awful aim of sight. "Say something."

As the elf man bustled around, maids of the same sort that had studiously bathed Lloyd appeared, plucking random things from the platters and slapping them onto the red plates in front of the three. Lloyd could sense the anxious vibrations coming off of Seiko as well as the unstressed, relaxed Noel. The boy watched the girls with a disgusting hunger in his eyes; this kid was used to getting his way. Figures; if you live in some family with that large of a tree, it would make sense that someone would take advantage of the flowers blooming in the leaves.

"I'd say _welcome, _but that's not tradition," Noel said in that puberty-less voice of his. Lloyd stroked the Eye on the back of his hand absentmindedly. "So, instead, I think I'll say you two look _lovely _tonight. I trust that my maids treated you well?"

At the same time that Lloyd responded politely, "Yes," Seiko had already blurted out, "_No!" _He wanted, more than anything, to swing a kick at her leg, but knew with his fateful luck he'd miss and hit Noel. The boy turned his weird green eyes on Seiko with that similar visionary devouring, the undressing through the eyes. For some odd reason, Lloyd wanted to ball his fist and swing it into Noel's thin jaw. This seemed like someone who was used to getting his way with women only under the title he bore rather than the size of his heart. In every way possible, that was disgusting, wrong, and ugly. Girls were always treated so badly by these kind of guys—Lloyd could've worried what would happen next! Itching himself to metaphorically scratch away the dastardly revoltingness of Noel's sexism, he watched Seiko watch Lloyd without knowing who she was staring at.

"Why not? Did they scrub you wrong, dear? Hm?" Noel didn't move when one of his maids slapped a chunk of the pig-cat on his plate. Lloyd curled his lip at the slick squishing noise of the collision.

_Uh oh. _Seiko had a look on her face informing the infinitely impassive Lloyd that she wasn't enjoying the way that Noel was resting his chin to his fist, leaning towards her dreamily, even if her sight wasn't on her side. He begged silently that she didn't screw this up for them!

"No, _dear," _Seiko growled, "they were _violent. _Extremely rude. I hate them. Hate them all!"

A look passed over Noel's face that seemed to spit approval, but it was gone before Lloyd could properly process it. He turned to Lloyd with an expectant, secretive smile. _This is extremely weird, _he thought quietly to himself. Noel batted a slow blink of eyelashes at him. _By far the creepiest dinner I've ever been at…I am so glad that Kai is nothing like this freak. Why is he looking at me like that? _  
"How about _you, _Mr. Garmadon? Actually, I knew your dad. He was my tutor, up until he mysteriously disappeared. Kind of like _my _dad. Do you know where your dad is, Lloyd?"

Lloyd clenched his teeth patiently before responding, "Not currently."

"Too bad," Noel sympathetically cooed. "I was hoping you did. I miss him. He was like a second father to me, you know; he was always teaching me the best ways to defeat an enemy, or how to rightfully gain control of a kingdom. He was the Underworld's finest tutor. That's why my dad picked him to teach me the ways of the world." Noel's tan face turned expectant. A slap of navy jelly substances onto the plate in front of Lloyd left a splashing residue on his cheek. Brushing it off subtly, Lloyd glanced at Seiko to find that she was poking at the same blue jelly that he had, only on her own plate. "Are _you _intelligent like your father, Mr. Garmadon?"

_This would be the part where I would start to panic. _Was Noel _interested _in him, or was this some kind of test in which Lloyd needed to pass? He consulted his Eye, but the mark was silent. It was full with the meal of Lloyd's memory, stuffed into its fake stomach. Why, he could practically hear it snoring! The coward! Where was it when he needed it?

"In what, exactly?" hedged Lloyd. He wasn't sure how to answer. "I'm good with mathematics, but not science or poetry…"

Noel rolled his avocado eyes. "Doesn't matter to me," said the dark prince, "since it's any knowledge from _any_one related to Sir Garmadon. I miss the guy. If you ever see him again, I'd tell him to come back to the mansion and we'll have fun like we used to!"

Lloyd couldn't help but think about the fact that Garmadon had spent most of Lloyd's childhood here, trapped beneath the surface of the earth, enjoying the company of _another _boy who could please him with the understanding that he was bad enough to be just like Garmadon. Had Lloyd ever _dis_pleased Garmadon because he wasn't evil? It made his stomach twist horrifically. _Maybe that's why he left without saying goodbye, _Lloyd thought, and churned inwardly.

"So what brings you to the Underworld?" Noel asked generally to either of the two listening. Seiko's head snapped up as a maid placed in her hand a fork, but conspicuously not a knife. She looked weary. Lloyd wondered why not when he was handed his own cutting utensil.

He wasn't sure how to answer that, either. Honestly, Lloyd wasn't aware why he was even here; he wasn't sure how exactly they'd been transported here. He initially figured it was the Eye, but later came to wonder, in the lowly minutes of the cell, if it was Eloquim sending him here was a punishment? Was Eloquim going to get the Shadow Key without Lloyd in the way to stop him? It certainly did make sense enough to try not to argue. In the end, that would also leave the question: Why bring Seiko too?

Lloyd had only wrapped his arms around her during the cascade from the sky when he felt like he was being sucked somewhere else. Four days after, he woke up into this different dimension to find Seiko disappeared and the Eye trying to lead him towards her—just in time had he stumbled into the village to find her cloaked elegantly in a Shadow Dancer's wrap, although being rudely attacked by a minotaur and centaur. It was strange to see them prevailing in front of his face rather than behind a movie projector with plenty of little 1's and 0's dominating its genetic makeup. That was when everything had travelled downwards.

_But why here? _Lloyd wondered absently. _What's so important here? _

He realized that Noel was waiting for an answer. The expectant leafy gaze waited impatiently on his own. Lloyd broke his brain trying to emit an excuse. "Looking for…my dad," he finally lied. "I haven't seen him in a while."

"Ah!" Noel grinned approvingly. He cut his knife into the pig-cat, while Lloyd hesitated. It wasn't that he wasn't hungry; he was more afraid to eat something that looked like a childhood friend. He decided he'd try one of the grape-ish looking red things sitting on his plate while Seiko poked at the dead cat-pork with her finger.

"Is that _meat?" _she jumped, recoiling, wiping her fingers mannerlessly on the tablecloth. Her face said disgust. "Oh, my glob, _get it away from me."_

"What's the matter with it?" Noel asked, genuinely interested. His childlike awareness to Seiko's reaction perked while viewing her. His eyes scraped her form in a quick assessment once more before watching her shake her head in complete repulsion. Lloyd ground his teeth before catching himself making an emotional reaction—why was he getting worked up about it? It was pointless to even do so. He blank-slated his mind. Then, he found himself blissfully careless once more.

"I am a _vegetarian," _Seiko made an _x _with her long fingers to somehow propel away the issue. Noel cocked his head.

"What's a vegetarian?" He asked curiously.

Before Seiko could say something potentially destructive, Lloyd answered, "She doesn't eat certain meats. Um, I don't think that—"

"I don't eat _any _meat," Seiko corrected. She waved away at the plate like it would eliminate the problem. Was the meat really so bad that she couldn't tolerate breathing the air it currently infected?

Lloyd sighed patiently. "Then you're a _vegan, _not a vegetarian. Vegans don't eat any meat. Vegetarians eat some."

"Whatever, Twinks." She turned to the sound of Noel's voice. "I don't eat any meat. Whatsoever."

_Oh, brother. _Noel looked too eager to please her. Snapping his fingers to command a maid to his side, he demanded angrily, "Get rid of that Sarcophogullocks at _once! _Or you'll be sent to a Chamber of torture!" The maid reacted too quickly in stealing away Seiko's plate, while another replaced it with an empty one to fill completely with fruit-based-looking things. Seiko looked bored as she waited for the world to do her bidding. Noel even looked a little ashamed for having disrupted her peace; that was a little pathetic coming from the Prince of hell. It would've been notably laugh worthy too if he was in a room with the guys back home. It would've been easy to joke and laugh around with them about this once it was over. But half of his friends were dead.

_Knock it off, _Lloyd told himself angrily. _You're better than this. Quite wallowing, because you need to stay strong. _His poise sharpened while watching Noel watch Seiko watch the air. It made the activity of _watching _extremely boring.

"And what brings this beautiful dove with you?" asked Noel. Seiko looked like she wanted to gag.

"She's a supportive friend," Lloyd answered quickly before Seiko could. She glared at the direction of his voice. "I needed a little support."

Noel nodded, though he was more interested in doing what he was doing to listen to Lloyd. The maid finished piling Seiko's plate with goods while perfecting its composure, only to earn Noel's attention while doing so. The kid was so easy to capture that he was like some kind of cartoon-worthy, stupid character who watched flies in his spare time. "Hey, you," he said to the maid. She turned her dark head to him. "I demand wine at once! Tell the chef I want his _finest." _The maid nodded obediently. Noel grinned like a fox to reach out a hand and stroke her arm. It was the most random time to show your perverted affections; Lloyd placed his face into his palm while Noel cooed, _"Good, _girl…"

This was going to be a _loooonnng _night.

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**Expect the next chapter soon! And please guys, go read ****DAWN OF THE NINDROIDS**** and see what Deviations I put up on Deviantart! I hope you enjoy both these things!**

**Yeah, the chapter was short. -.-' I had to make Noel's initial creepy debut funny and short, but the next chapter will be plenty longer and have more of Lloyd's consistent lying to save his behind and Seiko's snappy comments. I wonder what nickname she'll give to Noel? ;D**** Any suggestions?**

**Review if you feel like feeding me love, and go have another MARVELOUS day/night!**


	24. Chapter 23: A Dinner for Three

**NINJAGO RETURNS 2014! AM SO EXCITED! XD Can't wait, it's too far away! :( fjseirudjnifnfjfnjdnnnfffjxk kavvffff still though! AHHHH! I wonder if Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, Lloyd, and the rest will still be in it? Ohmyglob. I will die if 2014 doesn't come sooner.**

* * *

_23. A Dinner for Three_

"SO I NEVER caught your name."

Seiko raised her head at the sound of Noel's voice while she could also hear the squash of whatever was being tossed onto her plate being rearranged. Footsteps echoed in the darkness. She wasn't sure how to work out the kinks of being blind, much less quite comprehend the fact that she _was _miraculously unable to see. Why was it so hard to accept that she lost one sense? On the bright side, everything else had made up for what she didn't have; her hearing was the first to aim high into the sky, while her sense of touch also gave her a bit of an edge. She was about to try out how well her ability to taste had expanded, although warily. She wasn't sure how well she would like to blindly shove food products into her mouth with the name that Noel had given that last hunk of meat—Sarcopha-something-or-other. If it had a weird name that sounded similar to _sarcophagus—_which, in any standard, was less than sanitary—did that qualify it legally safe to consume? Seiko knew herself to be less than eager about it. Not that she was picky, but _you _try falling into some weird earth without your eyesight and be extremely flexible with the new eating standards. In fact, Seiko would eat just about anything as long as it wasn't meat-based. She remembered her mother used to praise her over the fact that she never complained about their dinners. Her stomach was tough enough to endure even the worst, which legitimately qualified as Aunt Nettie's pumpkin casserole. A word from the wise: Don't let the fun of the word _casserole _mislead you.

Seiko ran her hands over the slick of her fluffy chair's armrests. It wasn't your everyday polished type of wood, that much she gathered. It was smooth and flawless underneath the tender skin of her fingertips. Although not being able to see was going to be a challenge for the artistic Mitsuhide in the future, she didn't find the gain to more of her senses useless. In fact, she kind of liked being able to properly hear every small noise, able to feel things more prominently than she had before. And, reaching through the heavy air to pluck a random piece of food off her plate, better able to define the sweetness of the berry-like sphere she'd popped into her mouth. Small juices gushed out underneath the squash of her teeth, pouring through her mouth in waves of candy-like nectars. It tasted almost like one of _Lloyd's Candy Company's _"Fruit Bombs," which exploded in your mouth with various artificially fruity tastes and filled your nostrils with gorgeous aromas. Seiko's mother used to bring home a surprise package of L. . after work every day, just for Seiko. It was always their little secret tradition.

Presently, she _mmm_'ed at the deliciousness of the succulent food. She hadn't eaten properly in, what, weeks? This was more of a _treat _rather than a _punishment. _Big drastic change from the Torture People's "cleansing" ceremony earlier. Seiko enjoyed the smooth skin of the grape-like ball in her hand while shoving another into her mouth. It made her stomach tingle with wildfire ignited by its amazingness. She smiled into the air. "Whaddya call these?" She asked, rubbing her fingers over the circumference of another to get the feel for the rough, beauteous form of this gift.

She could feel Lloyd's eyes boring into her skin. She blushed. How Seiko knew it was him, she could never tell other than the fact that she just could _sense _it. Noel's gaze bore into her cheek, like someone was drilling a hole into her skin, burning, igniting, _devouring._ Lloyd's, on the other hand, was gentle, observantly quiet, unlike the antsy-pants fly-guy vibes zipping off Mr. Perverse over there. He was watching her eyes. Noel was watching _elsewhere. _

"Those are called _kumonajji." _

"I know both Chinese _and _Japanese, and that don't ring no bell," Seiko said through a mouthful of the strange _kumonajji. _With her heightened hearing, she picked up on Twinkies' stressed exhale at her bad manners, stirring the air and causing sensitive vibrations to attack her face. His breath smelled sweet.

Or maybe that was Seiko's _kumonajji. _

Noel seemed not to mind the fact that she was totally making herself look more unladylike by the seconds ticking down with him. That was fine with Seiko—who cares if this dwerp (_dweeb _had a baby with _twerp) _enjoyed her table manners? She wasn't suddenly going to make herself fall into his arms and drop all of everything that made herself, well, _her _just for this lame-o. Ha! At her epiphany, she released a grin of pearly white teeth into the nothingness. Instead of _lame-o, _why not call him Lameo, her twist to Romeo? It was either that or Testy (for lack of testosterone in Noel's admittedly squeaky voice.)

Triumphantly, Seiko waited for an answer from _Lameo, _feeling Twinkies have a coronary across the table from her excessively horrid manners. Lameo seemed to ignore it, but before he could respond, Twinks had already beat him to it. "It's not either of those," he answered softly in that deep, almost liquidic voice of his. Seiko cocked her head to listen. "It's an ancient language called Underneathean. It's native only to Underworlders. _Kumonajji _actually means 'delicate delight.'"

Lameo purred. "You've been doing your research!" He exclaimed. Seiko was still trying to understand how Cupcakes even _knew _what that meant until the sudden realization hit her. Back in that temple/monastery thingymabob, Evil Cloaked Dude called the Green Ninja a _Tonguespeaker. _Then, Cupcakes had read from that piece of paper for the weirdo, resulting in _this _admittedly stupid situation. So that meant he understood every language or something? _Weird. _

"I know my way around," Lloyd admitted sheepishly.

Seiko shoved something square into her mouth. It was warm, buttery bread, served at the perfect temperature with the perfect topping. Her taste buds sang with heavenly lyrics. She lamented when it was gone and reached for the next thing on her plate.

"So, your name?" Lameo asked, bringing Seiko out of her bliss. She squinted one eye into the emptiness.

"Sue." Like _hell _she was giving him her real name.

From across the table, Twinkies sighed deeply again. He did that too much. Didn't he know how to have a good time? Leaning back in her chair, Seiko stretched her long legs outwards, satisfied when her boot kicked something. Her senses flickered to inform her that she'd hit Lloyd. It was a happy moment when he gave a muted, soft whimper under the impact.

"So, Sue," Noel squeaked, his chair reacting to the shift of his positions, "how old are you?"

Seiko could've snorted at the idiocy of this kid. He sounded like he was at least _ten, _coming from a girl who judged by sound. The vibrations she could sense floating through the air at his strange movements told her, though, if he were to be ten, then his body would have to be the largest body a ten year old could have. It was weird to have her body tingle every time a Vibration rolled through the air near enough for her to sense, but it was helpful. It helped her know where Twinkies was. _No, _don't you go laughing at her 'cause you think it's funny, since it's not. Twinkies is the only one she _knows, _for crying out loud, who has any connection to possibilities of escaping this creepy dimension. And, admittedly…he was _comforting, _okay? He offered comfort, and it was really the only thing keeping Seiko from bursting into a million pieces with grief over Cole's death.

She picked up a _kumonajji, _rolling it in between her fingers. She could feel Twinkies looking at her again. Lameo's fiery gaze, too, burned into her skin from the darkness, acidic. "I'm four," she said at last, keeping her tone real. "I turned four a year ago. Don't be fooled by my height—it's genetic; my uncle is Bigfoot."

Lameo snorted. "Okay. Sure." There was a pause. "But I mean _really. _How old are you?"

"Why do you care?" she snapped, defensive. The way he asked her made her think he had something in mind, something she wasn't enjoying. Her heart pounded uneasily with uncharted rhythm to destroy the usual cut of her insides. Twinkies rolled off a vibe when leaning forward to rescue their butts if she did something dumb—which, at this point, Seiko could've cared less about because she was sensing lurking danger right and left.

Her only instinct in life had been to _survive. _Now, her skills were being tested as Lameo was pushing the envelope. Her face turned into a grimace.

"It's a mere question."

"A mere _creepy _question!" Seiko snapped. "Don't you know not to ever ask a lady her age?"

Twinks, _ever _the savior, jumped in. "She's joking. Really. I mean, where we come from, that's kind of a given not to ask women how old they are…"

Lameo seemed skeptic, but his envelope-pushing days were over. Settling comfortably into her seat, Seiko crossed her ankles, pushing into her mouth another square thing that tasted funky, but consumable. It was nice to lazily rest her hand over her stomach and not bother to worry about guards running up behind her with nurses in tow to scream about how "suggestive" her posture was. She could feel the vibrations in the air stir against her skin, tickling the hairs on her arms. Lloyd had just rested his elbow against the table.

She tried not to picture him in her mind with the silky suit she'd touched over his bicep earlier. She didn't know what it was, but it had felt dreamy, draped over his hard-and-soft form. When Seiko had been held captive in the air of that temple, prepared to drop, she'd felt the way his arms wound around her as she fell, feeling the hard catch as her body wanted to continue to fall but Lloyd did not. She had known he was holding her because of the way that, upon his touch, her heart had begun to pound against his. Maybe that was just the adrenaline, but something had made Seiko feel like, upon the way his hands touched the curve of her back, their first touch had somehow connected them. _Yes, _it sounded one-hundred percent _stupid _and interminably fangirly, but it wasn't a romantic connection that she was experiencing. It was something deeper, something more epic than either of them could imagine. Ever since then, she had felt like there was a thin silver wire strapped between them, always yanking, pulling at her soul, attempting aimlessly to turn her towards him no matter where he resided. Like some supernatural thing linked her to Twinkies by force. No matter where he was, it focused her in the direction of him, trying to get her to go to him, to stay close. She wondered if it was just her being all stupid, or if Goldy Locks felt it too.

Knowing Seiko, it probably _was _her being stupid. After all…she was insane by default. It was imprudent to think that there was a freaking silver line stringing between them. How desperate, how _dumb _did she have to be to believe she was connected to, of all people, _Lloyd Garmadon _by a supernatural clothes line?

Seiko finally noticed she'd missed a chunk of conversation between Twinks and Lameo. "…assume you probably have no idea where you two are even headed," Lameo adjourned, sending vibrations towards Seiko. He was leaning back. "I mean, I don't suspect you've been here before?"

Twinkies sent vibrations through the air, smacking Seiko repeatedly. He shook his head. _Hey, Twinkies, _she thought, leaning forward, _knock it off. That tickles! _"No," said Goldy Locks. "I've never been here before. I'm not familiar with the ground."

"But your dad is," Lameo countered. "Say, just a friendly question—why didn't your father bring you with him into the Underworld?"

_Whoa. _Epic question. This was a question that upset the poor Twinks out of his senses. He didn't emit emotion—_pfft, _of course not, he couldn't even if he wanted to—but it disturbed him deeply. Seiko thought back to the temple where she'd seen his burstive feelings practically fluttering off his body like teensy butterflies. It was before Cole had been staked that she had last seen him even _have _emotion. He was determined, angry, ready to smack Evil Cloaked Dude a good one, up until Naoki had appeared with the White Oak Ash and the stake, two weapons in which were bridled perfectly to postpone her brother from attacking. Seiko had met Naoki before. He visited someone in Sunnyside a lot, but Seiko couldn't remember who it was. He briefly had spoken little sentences to her. She wasn't going to lie, he was true eye candy—just completely and totally beyond her type. Furthermore, that implies that she was totally thrown off guard when he was the one to kill her brother, and the next person she'd kill when she returned to the _real _world.

Lloyd's face was tear-streaked and grief-ridden when, hovering over Cole's body, something within him had changed. Seiko watched the transformation of true pain into real, deep, pure _nothingness. _He had everything on his face one second. The next, Seiko was staring into the visage of an empty, impassive person. Cole's death had changed the poor ninja, for the worst of all scenarios possible. It was creepy to watch him become nothing in just a span of two seconds.

He still _was _nothing. What had he done to himself? Had he just flipped a switch to turn off his emotions or something? _Ha! _As if _that _were possible! If it was, Seiko would've already found it in her multiple hours of soul searching. No one could just simply erase every emotion in their body.

But somehow, Lloyd had.

"My father never wanted me to be like him," said Twinkies hollowly. "He wanted me to be better than him. But I realize now that I'm no less evil than he is. And that's why I want to find him."

Seiko was confuzzled. Popping another different fruit into her mouth, she processed it by the gigabyte. Did it mean that Twinkies was planning on joining the Evil Villains Uniting Club, or was he just doing this to avoid making Lameo suspicious? It certainly would make sense why he would operate the latter, however…_I'll just ask him about it later, _she decided mentally.

"I would suppose you need shelter until you get back on your feet from your crime punishment," Lameo sighed. Seiko "felt" him stretch. "I apologize for having to do so to such a celebrity, but you know the rules. Or maybe you don't. There isn't any theft of Dapplejunos. They're extremely rare and confined—everything else, you go ahead and steal, I could care less!" He laughed. Seiko was impressed. Coming from a robber like her, this was probably the best philosophy that a kid king could ever bestow on his kingdom. "However, I really don't usually care so much about Dapplejunos, but the satyr that you messed with is a friend of my family's. I had to offer him some piece." The air stirred against Seiko as Lameo shrugged.

She squinted one eye. "Wait a second there, dude," she leaned forward curiously, "did you say _celebrity? _And why is a Dapplejuno so rare?"

"I did," droned Lameo. There was a smile in his words. "Lloyd Garmadon is pret-ty big talk around here. He's Garmadon's son, and Garmadon was a _masterpiece, _if I do say so myself. Everyone wanted to be as strong and ruler-like as he was. When Garmadon revealed to the public he had a son, everyone knew that the child would be just like his father, if not better. Everyone has been rumoring about your power, you know. They've been saying you have a power greater than _anything _imaginable. The fools in this kingdom admire superstars _too _much, but regardless. They _loved _my father. And even though I'm new at this, I know they'll _love _me too." Lameo sounded content with haughtiness. "And, you're my beloved tutor's son, so obviously I must be respectful." Vibrations attacked Seiko as he waved his hand. "As for Dapplejunos, they're extremely powerful fruits that bloom once every thousand years from special trees, and whomever consumes one is given insight to their future. _Real _insight. Almost like fortunetelling, the Dapplejunos tell you what you can expect within two years of your life. All you have to do is take a bite and look in the mirror, and everything you see will be your future! They also have a delicious taste that comforts the soul immediately. The Dapplejunos cure you of emotional pain, bring you back to happiness, make you see your life better again. For some people, it actually _grants _their _wishes!_ I _adore _them just like my public does—they're extremely expensive, though, and cost more than most commoners can afford. Only the few can get them."

Seiko considered this while picking at her food. So the fruit she jacked was _magical? _She was blown away by the thought of it. "Sucks I don't have cash to pay," she lamented. She popped another piece of bread in her mouth while speaking around it. "They looked _exquisite!" _

Then, she impulsively picked up a piece of whatever rough, weird surfaced food she was touching, and threw it.

_"Ow!" _

Seiko grinned. "My aim is _spot-on _today, isn't it, Twinkies?" She reached for another cavalry of _kumonajji _to fling at him.

"Will you—oh, _please_—come on, quit—_Seiko Mitsuhide, knock it off—"_

"_Seiko_?" Lameo asked. His voice rose on the end of her name. Seiko clenched her fists. Okay, this was the part where she normally would've launched herself across the table to stab Lloyd with a fork for giving away her real identity. What kind of idiot gave away her full name like that? Now this creep could say it in a perverted roll from his tainted tongue. Oh, that idiot would _get it _later! She glared in the direction of the ninja whom she could safely now call _Báichī_—for idiot!—with the hiss and click of her sharp tongue. Having just "Twinkies," "Goldy Locks," and "Cupcakes" as his nicknames just would never satisfy her now. He was eternally the _Báichi _Ninja. Oh, that insufferable, rotten, putrid little—

"_Yes, _that's my real name," she growled at Lameo, taking another piece off of her platter to chuck at _Báichi. _He gave an _almost _agitated growl with the smack of the fruit to his stupid face. "And don't get all _weird _now, because I will be forced to _eat _you," she hurled another piece of food, "if you dare mistreat my name. GOT IT, King person?" She snapped. Her plate was empty, so she reached forward blindly to feel for something else. When her hand came to sorts with something squishy, that freaky gelatin stuff, she helped herself to a handful to chuck at Lloyd. Lameo was amusedly quiet as Seiko picked up a piece of bread to hurl at _Báichī_ with fury.

"Seiko, _stop!" Báichī_commanded, but really, who cares what the evil betraying _thing _guy thought? She stood up so crossly, her chair reacted with a loud tumble to the floor behind her. The reaction of the wood made snapping noises in her ears while it broke. Oh, great, so she'd broken a _chair _too? Well, couldn't she use that to her advantage? Without even _trying _to be ladylike, she grabbed a piece of the next thing she touched and flung it. _Báichī_ reacted by getting up out of his own chair to avoid being hit, but it added more of a benefit to Seiko's appeal by doing so. Now she could _fully _sense him.

"You're so _dumb," _she cried. "You're not supposed to _do _that! Telling strangers my full name, why didn't ya just tell him my social security number too? Freaking _wiseass, _I might as well come over there and give you a friendly smack to the _cheek!" _she hurled a brigade of bread at him.

"Calm _down," _said Lloyd rationally, but she was steaming. Why would he do that? All she did was throw a _kumonajji _at him, the little devil. _Teufel! Báichī! El stupido! _Seiko slammed her hand irrationally against the table, sending a shockwave through the wood, jarring the contents. "I mean it. Take a deep breath."

"Don't tell_ me _to '_calm down'! _Do you know who you're _talking _to?" She yelled. She drug her hand around the perimeter of the table as she stalked around it towards _Báichī_. "I have every right to come _rearrange your face, _you dummy!" Angered, Seiko purposefully slammed her foot to the ground to get a better sense of where he was, stalking towards him when she felt the sensations of his own footing on the ground. Twinkies didn't twitch when she was next to him, prepared to beat out his insides from anger. She was horrifically bad at controlling her temper, as you probably can assume. But there was no mistaking the rights she had to turning him into a stool for_ever_. Grabbing a fistful of his silky shirt, Seiko yanked him down to her level, sneering in his face, "You are _so _dead."

Then, he touched her.

Simple as that. His hands curled around her bare shoulders, warming her skin with his heat. In the instant he did so, her heart stopped beating so quickly, her mind going numb. There wasn't anything but that strange silver line hooking them together, and their heartbeats beating as one rhythm within separate bodies. She could feel the connection literally pulsating with his touch. Oh, yeesh, here she was, fangirly again. _Knock it off, Seiko! You're being ridiculous. There IS no connection, you dummy…_

She had already forgotten why she was so upset. Her throat seemed too tight, her brain seemed too fuzzy, and, let's face it, her stomach was full and she was worn out. She blinked against the darkness in front of her face when suddenly realizing that Twinkies' hands were _on _her. Normally, Seiko would've attacked with a what-for, yet today she was too tired to react. Her shoulders sagged. _Okay. Now, it's_ _officially nap time! _She thought. What else was there to do? She moved her head around in circles to eliminate the kink in her spine; tapping her finger to her lips, she shrugged off Lloyd's hands. "Leggo 'a me, Twinks," she slurred. His hands dropped.

"Wow," said Lameo from beyond. Seiko found he was somewhere to her left. "I have never seen such an interesting outplay at a dinner before."

"Sorry about Seiko," apologized Cupcake. Seiko fumed in between them like she wasn't even existent. "She's a little…impulsive sometimes."

"_Impulsive!" _she yelped. Lloyd cleared his throat.

"So is my brother," said Noel flatly. "My father used to tell me a _lot _of stories about Kai rushing into things, whom I have been told you've met before, Lloyd."

Kai. Why did that sound so familiar? Continuing past Seiko's tip-of-the-tongue memory, Noel went on without waiting for Lloyd to respond. "I can offer you one night's refuge in my castle, but then you'll have to be onto your journey again. You'll have to tell me about how you entered the realm, Lloyd," the prince dude said lowly. "I'm sure it's most exciting since no one enters _or _exits this realm without _my _knowing."

"Sure thing," Lloyd said confidently, but Seiko heard the dubious tint in his voice. She felt calmer now since he touched her, which made her feel really weird, all gooey and molten because, hel_lo, _she had just been "put to sleep," should they say, by a palm. What kind of superiority was that? Grumbling, she crossed her arms over her small chest in defiance.

"I suppose I can have my maids clean this up while I show you to your rooms," Noel said loudly. There was almost instantly the sound of doors being thrown open, and more vibrations attacking her body with knives. Could she have _gotten _any more uncomfortable? First, she's being watched by Weird Gazing Lameo. (EW!) Second, Lloyd put his hands on her. (Double ew!) Then _second, _she's being whipped with these weird vibrations. (Ew times 3!) This officially was awkward, even for Seiko, who was normally oblivious to those kind of emotions.

And now Lameo wanted to "escort them to their rooms"?

_Oh, joy. _

…

Seiko knew her way around the floor without You-Know-Who's hand, thank you very much. She wasn't some little kid with the attention span of a gnat; she wasn't able to get lost so easily. Her boots scuffed the marble floor while Lameo showed them the way towards their rooms, where Seiko would put a "Do not disturb" sign on the door handle, ditch this freaking fairy princess outfit, and curl into bed to sleep. She was looking forward to having the chance to cuddle with a mattress once again, but she was sure that wasn't gonna last long, because Noel was kicking them out in the morning after breakfast. If Cupcake was as clueless to the land as he said he was, they would be experiencing some _major _directional issues.

"…beds are nice," Noel introduced down the curve of a corridor. Seiko made sure to keep her stride a pace ahead of Twinkies' 'cause she didn't want to be at the same progress as him. She wasn't listening, more so worrying over the fact that Noel _did _know her name, and with that knowledge came a ferocious vibe to her senses. Ha, her _senses, _which seemed to be all she relied on now. Noel drawled continuously about the standards of the bedrooms like some hotel manager, just with more squeakiness and less testosterone. "…keep you at a distance, so I asked Balthazaar to make your rooms straight across the hall from each other," she caught. Seiko rolled her eyes. _Yay, one more reason for me to not like this dick, _she thought, falsely enthusiastic. Why did she have to be near Twinkies/Cupcake/Dipwad?

Deep inside her conscience, she knew that Lloyd hadn't intended to spill the beans about her name like that, but he had anyway and that was damaging to her mental status. She knew she would've naturally been hurting him if he could feel anything at all; it made her feel remorseful about the fact that she was vicious without cause. It wasn't Lloyd that was making her that way. It was Seiko herself that destroyed her better judgment. For that, it would pay her in horrors the rest of her natural life.

Figures.

"_Hey," _whispered Lloyd from her side, jarring her out of her thoughts. Seiko glanced in his direction without seeing.

"Hay is for horses," she responded. "What?"

Lloyd's eyelashes stirred the air as he blinked at her, unfeeling. She could've used him as her verbal punching bag if she wanted to and it wouldn't have fazed him. But Seiko didn't _want _to hurt him any more than she already had; the decision came to her on its own, plugging into her thoughts. When she set her mind to something, she never quit until it was fulfilled. This was just one of the many things she'd aim for during her lifetime.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. Seiko leaned back, tempestuous. Was he referring to the fact that she'd thrown a tantrum, embarrassingly enough, or was this something else? She eyeballed the dark air before deciding it was better to answer honestly.

"I feel…" _Sad. Happy. Embarrassed. Weird. Different. Like I owe you everything when I don't deserve the nice things you keep mysteriously doing for me. _She searched for the right word. What could she say honestly about herself that summed up all those things in one word? Finally, after a few moments, she blew out the air she'd stuffed into her cheeks. "I feel like Seiko."

There. That was honest, wasn't it? She thought she caught the slightest glimmer of a smile in his words, but it disappeared too quickly for her to do a full assessment of it. "And how's that?" He pressed gently.

She gave a dry chuckle. "Too many things to explain to you in one sitting, Twinkies," she murmured.

Lloyd caught her wrist before she walked right into Noel's back. She was partially thankful for the fact that he had, then again partially angry that she had another reason to add to her list of Things She Owed Lloyd Garmadon. Seiko touched her lip with her finger again while listening to what Noel was saying, trying not to reimagine the way Lloyd's fingertips had felt on her skin…

UGHHHHH. She squeezed shut her eyes. How many more times was she gonna go soft for absolutely no reason today? "There aren't many spare bedrooms, only three," Noel announced blatantly. Seiko continued to play with her lip using her index finger. "So, little Garmadon gets this direction, and little Mitsuhide gets that direction."

There was a pause that made Seiko narrow her eyes. "You _do _know I can't see what direction you're pointing, right, Lameo?"

"Lam—it's Noel, sweetheart." The way he said _sweetheart _made Seiko's skin crawl. He sounded like he thought she had actually accidentally screwed up his name. Heck, his tone made her think that any second now, he was gonna reach over and pat her on the head because she was _so freaking adorable. _It made her want to gag even _more _so than it had earlier when he'd attempted to flirt with her.

"Okay." She blinked. Trying to aim for something more amusing to her person, she said with an exaggerated accent, "Regardless what yo name is, bro, I still can't see it. So…y'all is gon' hafta help meh."

She sensed Noel reach for her, but Lloyd protectively interfered. His hands grabbed her shoulders before the prince's could, which she couldn't say she wasn't happy about. In fact, once again _grateful, _Seiko was directed to her right into this darkness. "Straight ahead," he murmured into her ear, stirring her hair beside it. She felt his warm breath tickle her skin. Goosebumps rose over her naked arms. There were ripples of warmth trickling through her body, sending her heart into a warm frenzy.

"I should warn you," Noel said, interrupting her chills, "that you have a roommate. No other rooms are open, and I figured you wouldn't want to stay in the same room as, er, Lloyd."

_Do I care what you figure? _thought Seiko, turning to the way Lloyd directed her. She blindly reached out with her fingers, expecting the air to guide her towards the door handle, except it was more the hands of a certain _someone _on her own, chaperoning her fingers towards the white crystal handle of her new bedroom. Seiko waited a moment before realizing that it was pointless to bother fighting the fact that her heart wouldn't stop being ridiculous whenever Lloyd touched her.

She didn't know if she was happy about the fact that she had a roomie. If there was anything Seiko hated, it was people, and she'd hoped to have some time to herself rather than chatting it up with some random creature that would also be staying here. _Hotel de Evil, _she thought grimly, and turned to the vibrations of Lloyd's body.

"My servants will retrieve you early at Bloodbreak, from which—"

"_Whazzat?" _Seiko asked loudly.

"Bloodbreak, when the two suns rise."

"Why not call it morning?"

"What do I have to mourn?" countered Noel honestly. Seiko almost facepalmed, except she was too lazy. "Aside from that, they will give you garments to wear. I'll proceed to give you breakfast, after which I must send you on your way. I have plenty of things to do, and I don't like it when people dawdle."

"I don't like people in general," Seiko randomly output.

She could _feel _Noel smile. "And I admire that about you." She almost said, _You don't even know me, _but bit the tongue that bit others. "Now, your roommate—"

"I can take the room with the roommate, if you want," Lloyd interjected quickly. Seiko turned towards the sound of his voice. _Ahhh, _so he was doing yet _another _thing for her. That was, what, twenty things she owed him now? She almost refused out of the blatant ideal that she didn't want to owe him any more, but selfishly decided she'd rather owe Lloyd than spend the night with a stranger. She grinned into nothing.

"Sounds better," she said humorously. "Keep it comin', Twinkies, I like your generosity."

She felt him _smile. _"I have nothing else to give tonight. I'm beat. Maybe tomorrow," he promised, but she didn't like being promised to be pampered. Seiko was someone who liked to deal with her own. Raising her chin, she let go of the handle to ease her way across the hall, ready for a big, giant night's sleep. But first, Noel wanted to do _one more thing. _

He caught her by the arm. Seiko could've gone bonkers if she hadn't been so exhausted. She hated the way his hand felt clutching her skin—damp, too rough. "Since you were so interested," Noel's voice carried through the air and into her ear. Seiko's nose twitched. "I thought I might give you dessert."

She didn't recall asking for dessert, but rather being so plump she didn't think she could _eat _anything else. Seiko was about to refuse when she felt him press into her hands a familiar, rough, peachy round form, one she'd almost died trying to get.

"Wait…why are you giving me one if I tried to steal one?" she asked dubiously. "Isn't that like cutting off somebody's hand, and then stitching it back on again?" Noel chuckled.

"Consider it an act of kindness," he said lowly. "Go on, take a bite, my dear. Take one!"

"I'm not really…"

_"Take one." _

Seiko lifted the Dapplejuno's hairy skin to her lips. Just a bite, and she'd be on her way to a fluffy, comfy bed. Opening her mouth, she bit down hard on the squishy, succulent fruit she'd been dying to try. The sweet juices poured down her chin, sticking to her skin with the bite. The taste was _amazing, _so undescribably delicious that she didn't think she'd be able to—

Seiko felt…strange. Her throat seemed to tighten beyond that first bite, constricting, her lungs refusing to drink in air. She held the Dapplejuno in both hands, but started to feel like she couldn't properly hold it. Her grip was…slipping? There was barely a moment between Seiko's sudden inability to breathe and the deathly stop of her heart before she collapsed to the floor. The Dapplejuno rolled out of her motionless fingertips across the floor, disappearing out of sight as a princess unbeknownst lay dying on the castle corridor's floor.

* * *

**Please review, and go have an awesome day/night!**


	25. Chapter 24: An Eye for an Eye

_24. An Eye for an Eye_

HIS ROOMMATE WAS…DIFFERENT.

Maybe Noel had wanted to stick Seiko in with a girl because he wanted it to be some kind of girl pairing or something, but he was suddenly feeling weird when he shut the fat red door behind him. Noel had told him to "have fun" before he'd shut the door in his face. Unbeknownst to him, the results would be _opposite _of fun.

The bedroom was large, high-ceiling, with two canopy beds, and a bathroom to split. The bed farthest from the door was the one that had a pair of night clothes for him sprawled across its black comforter. The canopy was a dark gray. He quietly walked in after he noticed the fact that there was someone hidden behind the curtain of the second shaded bed. He didn't want to disturb them. Quietly walking across the wooded floor, he removed his boots, setting them neatly beside his bed, and unlacing the wrap of the belt around his black robe. He hung it on the hook attached to the black column holding the bed's roof up.

"You're Lloyd Garmadon," said a soft voice from the other side of the room. He glanced up, startled, to find a girl pulling herself out of the bed's tomb to look at him. The fact that Lloyd was half-naked in front of her would've normally been disturbing. She had shaggy brown boy length hair, dark brown eyes, and a lanky build. Her elfish face looked strangely familiar to him as she walked out in a black robe. Freckles scattered her nose as she walked closer.

Lloyd raised a brow. "Ayuh," he answered, crossing his arms over his bare chest. He wasn't sure how to handle this. "And you are?"

A brief smile came to her lips. "Sakura," she answered. "Sakura Mura."

The name sounded familiar; where had he heard it before? "Hi." Flatly, he spoke to her, unashamed that he just ignored her completely. He turned away from her when he caught the glimpse of somebody else Sakura's bed. He wondered who it was before thinking he didn't _want _to even know—

"Hello, Lloyd."

Lloyd froze at the sound of the familiar voice. The last time he'd heard it, he'd been running out of Darkley's with his hands over his ears, screaming, _"I'm never coming back here, never coming back here, NEVER EVER NEVER AND NONE OF YOU CAN MAKE ME!"_

Kai had laughed loudly, taking the time to laugh at the ten year old Green Ninja trainee while ruffling his hair. Cole had shoved Lloyd further away from the Ultimate Dragon's reins so he wouldn't screw up driving again. Jay had been laughing with Zane, even though they totally just endured having the Bizzarro Ninja come attack them. It had been a blissful moment. "_Come on, kid, let's get home, huh? Sensei and Nya probably miss us…"_

Lloyd didn't even _want _to turn now. What would he see? Did he _want _to see? Because if _he _was here, that probably meant a turn for the worse was coming. Obviously he wasn't here to catch up. He was here for a _reason. _

"Miss me, Lloyd? No, I don't think you did," Gene said nasally, his voice still high pitched like Lloyd remembered. He squeezed shut his eyes, trying to somehow block them out. "You never missed any of us. Not even Brad. And now… Brad's missing, and the world starts to crumble!"

"Get away from me," Lloyd said lowly. He pinched the bridge of his nose. The Eye was screaming at him, telling him that every inch of this was _wrong. _They were _evil. _He practiced patience while trying to somehow escape this…

"Why, Lloyd? Don't like me anymore?"

"Correction: I never liked you, Gene. You freaked me out."

"Oh, I know. But wait till you see what I can do now!"

"I'd rather not." _Eloquim's doing, Eloquim's doing, _whispered the Eye in his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut further.

"Afraid of what you'll see?"

"A little bit."

His heart thundered anxiously. Gene pressed further, and the Eye screamed at him to get out, _get out now, _but Lloyd couldn't move. He was cornered, half-naked, by Gene and Sakura Mura, who he knew he'd heard her name _some_where before. And both of them were possessed by Eloquim's evils. This was an equation for _disaster. _

"I can read you like a book," Sakura said. "Your emotions, even though you're trying to lock them up, are constantly betraying you. I can _taste _them. I can taste your determination, your fiery desire, your love. Especially your love. I can taste the passionate thirst, the hunger, the _craving _for the one person that _you _want more than anything right now. I know your secret," Sakura whispered. She was extremely close, sending the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. "And I'm gonna tell."

"_Don't _you dare!" Lloyd gasped. He didn't turn to them, didn't open his eyes, but tried to get her to listen. This must've been what Noel had meant; he had set Lloyd up to fail. Was he working with Eloquim too?

If he was, did that mean that _Seiko _was in trouble?

"You love _You-Know-Who_, don't you?" Sakura whispered. "You love _them_ more than anyone will ever know. Of course, if everyone knew you liked _them, _then your other brothers wouldn't accept you. Wouldn't like you anymore because of who you choose to love."

"No," Lloyd croaked. He couldn't let them get to him.

"You question your feelings, knowing they aren't returned, and never _will _be returned. You're unnatural, a _monster _because of these feelings. You're afraid! You're _scared! _You know that you won't be loved back by You-Know-Who."

"_Stop," _Lloyd begged. He slammed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

"You can't do it!" Gene cried. "You may be the Green Ninja, but you know you could _never _fight the Prince of Darkness. You're a fail," he reprimanded from an echoey pitch behind Lloyd. "You suck at protecting people. You can't save anyone worth a _penny." _

"No, I—I _can—"_

"You aren't _loved!" _Sakura shouted. Everything inside of Lloyd threatened to shatter under her voice. Ripples of fear screamed up his spine as Sakura cried out to him, called to him. He felt himself tremble. How could he go on knowing that they were right? "You know that your friends aren't looking for you, not Jay, not Cole, not _Kai! _He doesn't _want _you, doesn't want to _know _you, doesn't want _any _partof you!"

"You can't _save _anybody! You couldn't even save Seiko!" Gene screamed at him. Lloyd was _this close _to turning around, but he knew if he faced them, he would break down. That was the last thing he needed. Pinching his nose tighter, Lloyd didn't know what Gene was even talking about. "You aren't worth anything! NOTHING! I've had _pennies _with more value than you!"

"You know that they don't love you. They never have," spat Sakura in Lloyd's ear. He jumped at how close she was.

"Are you _scared, _Lloyd?" Gene cackled. "Is the poor green ninja scared? Awww, poor little Lloyd, afraid of his own shadow…"

_"Knock it off!" _Lloyd screamed. He covered his face with his hands. Please, please, someone make them _disappear—_"Go away!"

"They don't _love you!"_Sakura screamed.

"You can't save _anyone!" _

"You know as well as I do that none of them could _care _about you," Sakura hissed. "Jay never liked you much. Cole always wanted to eat you. Zane wished he could've deprogrammed you. And _Kai _always thought you were an annoying, tiny, in-the-way, _childish _little kid who could _never _be the Green Ninja. Sensei Wu thought you were too much like your father—Garmadon thought you were too good! Misako didn't like you enough to keep you. And your aunt can't _stand _you."

"I don't _have _an aunt!" Lloyd shouted, just to get the focus off of him. He buried his face childishly in his hands. "Go away!"

"Yes, you do," Gene said cheerily. "Her name is Caroline. I think you've met her before."

_Smack. _Lloyd felt like someone hit him in the face. Caroline. His head wouldn't wrap around anything, wouldn't focus on what that meant if they said Caroline was his aunt.

He felt himself sinking to his knees. Sakura came down with him. "And your _real _mother hated you so much she _killed _you."

"_No!" _Lloyd shoved her away. Sakura landed beside the bed, two feet away. He trembled violently. His body erupted into earthquakes of madness.

"_HE HATES YOU!" _Gene screamed above him. Lloyd buried his face in his hands again. "KAI HATES YOU!"

"_No he doesn't!" _

Sakura pulled his hair. "Jay hates you. He hates your _guts. _He wants to rip you apart with his own two hands every time he sees you."

Gene snorted. "Cole wants to eat you. He'd like to sink his teeth into your neck and bleed ya dry!"

"Zane wants to smack you with a wrench every time he _looks _at you."

"Kai just wants you to _leave him alone. _You're around him too much." Sakura pushed him, but Lloyd didn't topple over. "He doesn't love you. He never _will. _You'll be alone _forever, _you stupid Green Ninja. You can't do anything."

"Kai likes _girls," _Gene poked him. Lloyd shivered. "Not little annoying kids."

"I don't like Kai."

"You sure?" Gene pressed. He giggled uncontrollably. "You don't know what romantic love feels like, do you? So how would you know the difference between romantic love and brotherly love?"

"I _don't. Like. Kai!" _

"None of us _believe _you!" screamed Sakura. Her screams in his ear pounded in his brain. "You're a _liar!"_

"I'm _not lying!"_

_"He'll never love you back!" _

"I don't _love _him!" He shouted. Around him, Gene and Sakura danced, singing a song of broken love that Lloyd couldn't listen to. His head pounded, his insides dared boil over. He felt himself growing numb. He was trying to hold back his emotions, trying to corral them back into the box that he kept them in so he wouldn't have to deal with them, but they were getting so difficult to fend off. Lloyd felt tears slip out of his eyes. _Kai doesn't love you. You can't save _anyone. Their words trembled inside of him. They were true. It was so, so true. He couldn't save anyone worth a damn; everything he did, he ended up destroying anyway. Lloyd bent into the fetal position trying to block out their screams. Kai—he couldn't—Lloyd didn't love Kai, at least not the way they thought he did…He didn't think about love, least of all with his best friend. No. They were trying to…to freak him out or something. _You're worth NOTHING! _Under the words, Lloyd recoiled. No! No, he was, he was worth something, at least, to someone, to—to—Kai, or Garmadon—or Wu, or—to _someone _he was worth something… "NOBODY LOVES YOU! _YOU SCREW EVERYTHING UP! _LOOK WHERE YOUR STUPIDITY GOT YOU!" Lloyd tried. He tried so, so hard to keep the bad part of him dormant. He tried to keep it in check while they screamed at him. He tried _so, so hard. _He didn't want to hurt them, or anyone else, because he…he couldn't…

"**_STOOOPPPPPPP!"_**He shouted. Lloyd sprung to his feet. "STOP! SHUT _UP!" _

"_NO one loves you!_

_"You can't do anything right!"_

_*"__You're such a terrible Green Ninja that you don't even know what's happening RIGHT NOW outside of this room, what's happened to your friends, what they're doing. You have no freaking idea, do you?!"*_

He looked at Gene and Sakura while shaking his head, trying to fight off the darker part of him. He couldn't let that part of him become real. He had to keep it in check. He couldn't let it happen…couldn't let him hurt them…

"_You're worthless!" _Sakura and Gene screamed simultaneously. "_You have nothing to do with anyone! You belong nowhere, should be dead in the ground, should be nonexistent! You have no purpose here! You screw everything up! You are WORTHLESS!"_

**_"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" _**

The explosion of Power bursting from inside of Lloyd, a gusto of wind attacking the room. The canopy curtains ripped completely off of the bed, and Gene and Sakura were thrown back against the wall. It wasn't his elemental powers attacking them. The accessories of the room fell against the floor, things flying out of dresser drawers, the bathroom door swinging wide until it cracked off its hinges. Lloyd's hair whipped around his face. The winds stung his skin, but he stood straighter, holding out his hand in front of him as he aimed it at the stunned pair of rotten cretins insulting him. He felt his heart blacken with Power. _"Tibi morte morietur frigide!" _He screamed over the wind. There was a loud cracking sound as the bed's posts and roof came crashing down. "_Caelum non miserebitur! I erit mortem tuam! Morietur in aeternum, numquam reueniunt!"_

Sakura and Gene screamed underneath his outstretched hand and its blooming Power. His hair smacked his face again as he shoved his hand further in their direction. _"Vos ardebit, et i corridebit. Persolvetis!"_

When they died, he sucked the darkness into his heart, and consumed it whole.

…

Lloyd's eyes snapped open.

_What the fudge?_

He was still in the corridor, sprawled across the floor on his back, watching the dimly lit chandeliers above his head sway. He was overcome with a hazy, unconventionally sick feeling in his stomach. That dream…No, that _nightmare. _What _was _that? Rolling onto his side, trying to understand why he was in the hallway instead of the bedroom, Lloyd groaned with the soreness in his bones. He pushed himself up onto his elbows.

And then he saw Seiko.

She lay unmoving on the marble in front of him, white as a sheet, lips blue. Her cheeks were hollow, practically black in the crescent. Her eyelids were a dark gray. Her thin, beautiful hand was extended outwards from her side. And on the ground beside her fingers, motionless as a rock, was a blood red Dapplejuno.

"Seiko!" He cried, pushing himself painfully to his knees so he could crawl towards her limp body. Why was he so weak, and moving so slowly? He was usually faster than that. When he reached her side, he grabbed Seiko's wrist, searching frantically for a pulse. _I told you to protect her from all supernatural evils! _Lloyd thought angrily at his Eye.

_And I have, _responded the dark mark. He counted in his mind, bobbing his head in time with the counts, but no matter if he counted backwards from ten or started at five, he didn't feel anything underneath her skin. He propelled himself downwards to listen for a heartbeat, begging for one. He held onto a mad hope that maybe there was one. Maybe his hearing was bad; yeah, that was it. He had bad hearing. The emptiness inside of her chest was just a result of him not being able to hear her heartbeat. He reached up to her jugular and pressed his fingers against her throat. It was difficult to keep his eyes off of her snow white face.

"Please don't be…" he couldn't finish the whisper. He shoved aside the Dapplejuno to slide his hand underneath her light head. _You didn't save her, _he snapped at the Eye. He pulled Seiko into his arms, cradling her head against his chest, nestling her just underneath his chin. Her head dangled uselessly without his assistance. He'd failed, just like Sakura and Gene had told him. He had _failed _as a Green Ninja. He hadn't saved just this _one _girl, this one person who could've easily be saved. Instead, he had fallen asleep on the floor while she was witted into dying.

_I didn't have to, _responded the Eye.

_What does that even MEAN? _Lloyd buried his face in Seiko's hair. She smelled like lemons and rosemary. Sweetly endurable. He pulled her closer. He didn't know why, but he felt like there was a silver chord connecting them, a fine line that only they ever existed on, something that only either of them understood. It was something Lloyd felt stupid for ever thinking there was—who had a tie with someone as a "thin silver line"? He was stupid for thinking so. He felt like a complete and utter failure, his face pressed into a dead girl's hair, his heart leaking out the emotions he'd tried so hard to lock away. Grief over Kai's death, over Zane's, over Cole's, and even Seiko's overthrew him. Though she was different, Seiko had been _fun. _She was funny, random, and, even though a little abusive, enjoyable. He _liked _being around her. He liked that she kept her back turned but an ear cocked, and that she liked to be able to do things on her own. He even liked being called "Twinkies" because it defined a part of Seiko that meant she was unique enough to make nicknames for people she was around. She saw the world in a way that Lloyd had before: behind a glass wall, looking in, but never able to touch. She knew what it was like.

And now, she was gone.

_Listen to me, Lloyd, _said the Eye, pulling him out of his grief-stricken tears, his sobbing against her head, _I didn't save her because I had another choice._

_What are you talking about? _Lloyd raised his head slowly.

_She was worse than I let on, _the Eye said, _and I didn't want to worry you. She needed my help. So I helped her. She _needed_ my _help.

Lloyd froze. _What did you do?!_

In his arms, Lloyd clutched Seiko tighter, feeling her limp lifelessness in his arms. He stared hard at the hand he was communicating with, the hand he could be called insane for thinking had a mind of its own. The Eye was not only a part of him, it was a part of _itself, _too_. _It knew just what it was doing. And, apparently, what it was saying. _I fixed her. _

In his arms, under the shelter of his chin, Lloyd cradled a corpse that wasn't dead. It was operating an activity much more intricate than decomposition.

It was _transforming._

* * *

**This chapter was cut short because…well, because it was. I didn't want it  
to be too long. **

**-.-'**

**Oh, and BTW- the first part of the chapter was  
Lloyd's nightmare, ya know, 'cause it was like  
The other Ninja's nightmares...He had to have one, too.  
He's scared of not being able to be  
that good of a Green Ninja.**

**Please review! ^^ and wait for the next update,  
which I'm already working on, called "Eloquim the Deadly."  
oooooh, scaaryyyyyy! Go have a lovely day!  
~Kairi**


	26. Chapter 25: The Balance is Broken

**"Eloquim the Deadly" chapter got postponed to nxt chappie! ^^**

* * *

_25. The Balance is Broken_

LLOYD'S HANDS TIGHTENED on Seiko's small body. Gripping her tightly, he pretended like his emotions weren't falling out of his heart from their pensive cage he'd put them in. He didn't quite know what to do now. He waited, like the Eye told him to do, for the transformation to complete, but the only thing Lloyd could see was the transformation of life to death. For once, he couldn't rely on the Eye to tell him what happens next. He just had to put up with its words when they were spoken.

_This was bound to happen anyway, _the Eye said urgently. _It had to happen in order for everything to fall into place. This had to be completed in order for Noel to complete _his _Transition—like "Kai" originally wanted to do, until "he" was killed. This was the Murder of One. Now, he has all the power he needs to fight you. But by completing the Transition for himself, Noel also did something for you in return. Seiko is a major key-piece in this game. He doesn't know that he just opened the doors for you to become a better Spinjitzu Master, Lloyd. _

_Yeah, a better Spinjitzu Master. Like watching all my friends die, _he thought miserably. In that deserted corridor, he held the girl he barely knew closer to him. He didn't know what to do next. Usually, Cole was the one who came up with the plans and everyone carried them out, but Cole was dead, and so were Kai and Zane. Now Seiko was dead, too. Why didn't he just grab a knife and kill Jay himself? Oh, yeah, that's right; Jay was probably dead, too, from that injury, or splattering all over the temple floor. What did he have left?

_Hope, _the Eye said. And you know what? Lloyd rolled his eyes.

_Hope? _What good was _hope _if you had nothing to _hope _for?

_You don't understand anything I'm saying, do you, little one? _The Eye scoffed. _Lloyd, I'm telling you that now that Seiko is dead, you have a better chance of winning the Great Battle. _

_How can I fight someone who is dead? _He asked, thinking of Kai's sadly hopeful face, of the last time he saw him, fading away into a memory. Lloyd had abandoned his best friend in the Elemental Realm. Yay. So fun.

_The Dark Prince was Kai, Lloyd, but only when he lived. The power, after Kai's death, was then transferred to the Ultimate Heir. Think about it, Lloyd; you're right. You cannot fight someone who is dead. But if you have another option, there is every way that you are able to fight._

_I don't know what that is. _

_You do! There are two Princes, Lloyd, and if one is dead…_

_Then…it would be the other?_

_Yes!_

Lloyd frowned against Seiko's hair. _So…the Prince of Darkness is…_

_Noel. Noel Smith is the Prince of Darkness, because Kai is dead. You have to fight Noel, not Kai. You don't have to kill a friend, Lloyd._

_Nope. Someone else already did that for me._

_Lloyd—_

"Quite the plot twist, isn't it?" a voice said from behind him. He whirled, half expecting to see Kai, because of the way that the voice was deep and smooth like his best friend's was, but instead found someone plenty different. Standing behind him was what looked somewhat like Noel, but a much older, more mature version of him, taller and filled out, darker than before. Lloyd gasped and clenched his fists. How had Noel aged so quickly, when before he'd looked like a stumpy, nerdy wannabe? _He has the power to age on command, _said the Eye. _He is actually only ten years old, just like you, Lloyd. Only, I think you've changed since all those "years" ago. _

Well. That would explain the lack of deepness in his voice earlier.

Lloyd's fists clenched. The _hell _if he was gonna let this bastard get away with his life! If the Eye was right, and Noel was the Prince of Darkness, then plenty of doors actually _had _been opened—like prematurely beginning the Great Battle. He didn't think he'd regret busting this kid's ass for everything he'd just done.

Seiko's body felt heavier against him, and Lloyd knew what he had to do. He'd avenge her death, and laugh the whole darn time he was beating the crap out of this twerp. Gently setting her against the floor, he stood, cracking his knuckles menacingly. Noel looked unfazed. He put his hands on his hips and laughed. "I don't think you were expecting me to knock out you or kill your friend with a poison fruit. I liked having the upper hand. And now, with her dead and my Transition beginning…I think I have an even _better _chance at helping my dear friend Eloquim open the Gates to hell." He grinned, a flash of white teeth. Lloyd was tempted to bust them out of his mouth the second he showed them. It wasn't a shock to him that Noel knew Eloquim—it seemed like every villain knew each other nowadays. "You know, recently we had a conversation, Eloquim and I," said Noel. He examined his nails thoughtfully. "He revealed some pretty juicy secrets to me."

"Oh, yeah?" Lloyd bore his teeth. With the replenishing of his emotions, he felt sick determination spread through him like wildfire. "What, did he tell you that you were adopted?"

Noel gave him a bitter smile that lasted only .2 seconds. "Cute," he commented. "It's funny; I never imagined _you _would be the destined Green Ninja. I expected someone more…well, you know. _Ninja-like." _

"I didn't know _you _would be the destined Prince of Darkness," retorted the Green Ninja spitefully. "I expected someone not so…squeaky."

Noel's smile disappeared. Lloyd had struck a tender note. Fine by him; all the better reason for this bastard to attack him. His hands bronzed over with impending ice. He wanted to freeze that look on Noel's face completely off. "Funny. But you're not going to win this, Lloyd. You see, I'm not here to fight you. I have better things to do with my time while Eloquim digs up the Shadow Key—thanks for that, by the way. Without you, this whole thing could've been postponed some more. But, back to the point: Eloquim wants me to _disable _you so you no longer will be a threat." Noel shrugged mechanically. Lloyd grimaced in his direction. _I don't care what he wants. _I'm _here to fight him, and nothing is going to stop me. _Inside of himself, he felt the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master want to reach over and use some elemental attack against the Ultimate Heir, but he refrained at the Eye's warning. It didn't want him to attack just yet. For that, Lloyd _couldn't _attack. His powers were being held in check by the tattoo.

"At first, I considered that maybe I could lock you up again. But then I figured that wouldn't be as fun." Noel tugged on one of his yellow gloves. "So I came up with a _better _option. You remember your father, right?"

Lloyd rolled his eyes, unable to stop himself from contradicting snarkily back. "No, I totally forgot him in the twenty minutes it took you to tell me what an awesome guy he is and then kill my friend."

Noel pretended he hadn't spoken. "Garmadon was tainted, once, by the snake that bit him—he told me this story plenty of times. The Devourer, was it called? The largest snake ever to exist, that as long as it consumed, it grew? I've been told by Eloquim the venom can do just about anything—even poison a spider that could poison you." His eyebrow raised methodically. Lloyd tried not to retch all over the expression of inquiry. "I've poured over this hundreds of times ever since I met you in the square of my village. I was prepared for you, you know. Eloquim had told me your descent into hell had occurred. That was when he informed me of everything, and that I needed to keep you as harmless to him as possible. That's when I had my epiphany."

Lloyd couldn't think of what that epiphany could be. His hands were ready to sock Noel in the face, ready to attack with every ounce of power he had in his body. He just had to wait for the Eye to give him he O.K. Then, he'd be off, using all his might to take revenge.

"I figured that your father wouldn't do anything against Eloquim, because he's infected with the Devourer's venom," Noel mused. "You told me you wanted to be just like your father, right? That's why you came looking for him. Or so you've said, Green Ninja." Noel's expression became content, enthused, and relaxed all at once. Lloyd couldn't wait to wipe the look of his face with a blast of power. "Well, now you can."

Noel's gaze focused on something just past his shoulder, but before he could turn, Lloyd was suddenly stabbed by something sharp, biting into his jugular like a bee sting. He cried out in pain. Reaching for whatever had pricked him, he found that his hands came to sorts with someone _else's _hand, clutched around a small cylindrical device.

_A syringe. _

Lloyd wasn't fast enough to move before the syringe was emptied of the green liquid inside. He whirled, heart beating, on the person who had stabbed him. His mind moved fuzzily, slowly, achingly. He stared into a pair of brown eyes, matched with the bright red hair, hidden beneath a pair of glasses.

Nightmares did come true.

Gene snorted as he tossed aside the empty syringe. "Wow, Lloyd," he nasally yelped, "I was surprised you didn't hear me coming! Being a _ninja _and all," the tall eleven year old waved his hands, stirring his blue sweater. Lloyd stared in shock. His hand flew to his neck, where the pucker oozed blood by a small stream. _What had just happened?! _

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" He screamed, grabbing Gene by the collar of his mother sewn sweater and lifting him towards himself. Frantically, Lloyd's heartbeat increased with his pumping adrenaline. He threw Gene down before he could possibly begin to calm himself.

Noel had all the answers, as usual. "Now it can be truly _like father, like son," _he chuckled darkly. "The Great Devourer's venom will quickly spread through your veins. I'd give you an hour before you begin to feel the effects. Then, you can finally be a real Daddy's Boy, can't you, Lloyd? You always wanted to be one," he added, somehow referring to the childhood he should've known nothing about.

Lloyd's vision of the world sharpened brightly. The Devourer's venom was _inside _of him, spreading through him even as he thought it. Noel had Gene _stab _him with the _Devourer's venom. _Oh, my God. Lloyd felt lightheaded. That meant that he would become _just like his father. _Lloyd Garmadon was going to become _evil. _

_No. No, no no no no no no no nononononononononononono! _

_I needed to keep you as harmless to him as possible, _Noel had said. Lloyd couldn't be harmful to Eloquim if he was on Eloquim's side! Oh, God, this was the worst possible thing that could've happened to him; why hadn't he attacked when he had the chance? He fell against the wall trying to understand it, to wrap his head around it. Noel watched with a pleasant look on his face, and Gene cackled manically, both making noises that were too loud in Lloyd's head. It was so hard to comprehend this, yet he knew exactly what had just happened. It was like learning that Kai was dead. He got it, he knew it, but he couldn't understand _why, _or _how. _He was going to become evil. He could think it all he wanted, but the truth of it was exactly what he just couldn't get to. Why did this happen to _him? _

Noel dusted off his arm like he'd dirtied it. "Since you're no longer a threat, little ninja," he enthused, "I think it's safe to let you go now. You can take the corpse and leave, but like I said, you only have an hour of freedom left." A smile spread across Noel's too bright face. "I would get running, if I were you. The Shadow People are coming, and if they smell you, they're going to want to eat you whole. The screaming spirits _love _emotion, and you're clearly dripping it now, judging by the way you look so scared."

Lloyd was _terrified. _His breathing was too hard, his mind buzzing. He looked down at Seiko's limp form and saw something different about her; was it the way that her cheeks weren't dark and sunken in like they were before, or was it something else? He didn't know. Couldn't understand. Didn't know how to. It wasn't computing in his head at _all. _

"GO, you cretin, you're bugging me. Should I have someone show you the door? Gene?" Noel waved an arm towards the end of the hallway opposite him. Lloyd blinked slowly. What exactly was happening again? Oh.

Noel had said the screaming spirits would come. He said he should run. Should he listen? Was this a trustworthy judgment?

_Hell yeah. _Lloyd numbly grabbed Seiko, pulling her into his arms like a child, and brushed past Gene, who was taunting him aimlessly. "The door is just down the hall!" called Noel as Lloyd stumbled away. He couldn't find his footing right. Head was too light, feet were too heavy. Wasn't understanding anything. Seiko didn't feel that hard to carry. Was okay in weight. He started to pick up his pace. _Devourer's venom inside me, _he thought repeatedly. _Gonna…turn me evil? But I can't be evil. I can't be…_He didn't remember how he found it, but the front door was suddenly there, a large, elegant decorational opening in the castle. Two guards yanked it open for him, and Lloyd was faced with a black sky and torches lighting his way down the path. He didn't know what else to do. Took the path. Walked on it slowly. Held Seiko, heard the doors slam, didn't know why. Had to fight the venom inside, yeah, he had to do that. Had to struggle against it.

He walked through the crooked, gnarled shade of a black-treed forest. The branches glowered on him like an angry person. He trekked along, not knowing where he was going. What did he even know anymore? Stumbled a couple of times, but was able to stand again. Kicked up dirt as he walked. Thought…hardly. Seiko was snow white, but her face looked healthier. Less dead. That was good. Wasn't it? Lloyd felt tired. Really tired. He stumbled through the gnarled trees, feisty, ravenous. He wanted to fall to his knees. Wanted to sleep. But didn't know if he should.

Lloyd had the Devourer's venom in him. He would become just like Garmadon.

And the balance would be upset.

Shuffled. Walked. Trudged. Lloyd's arms felt like jelly carrying Seiko. He practically slammed face-first into the ground and trees just trying to heft her weight, even though she didn't weigh much. He tugged on his strength, but his ammunition was dwindling. Who was to say he wouldn't fall soon?

_You're no longer a threat. _

Lloyd's heartbeat quickened.

_I needed to keep you as harmless to him as possible. _

Stumbled again. Didn't know where he was. Had Devourer's venom inside his body.

_You told me you wanted to be just like your father, right? Well, now you can._

Lloyd felt his veins begin to burn. How long had he been walking?

_Noel. Noel Smith is the Prince of Darkness, because Kai is dead. You have to fight Noel, not Kai. You don't have to kill a friend, Lloyd._

How could he fight if he was already on their side?

_I kept calling her the Yin of the Yang. I don't know why._

_Love you, kiddo._

Lloyd _is the Green Ninja?_

_I knew. I knew when I had to make a choice._

_You just HAD to ruin my treehouse!_

_I've grown a little since you last saw me, Dad._

_Your father is GONE!_

_You're the best, Pythor._

_Ooh, we _do _have fun._

_Dad, why do you have four arms?_

_We cannot change the past, but we can always improve for the future._

_My father has a Mega Weapon?! Should I be concerned?_

_Remember when Kai thought he was the Green Ninja?_

_Whoever this spider bites, it will kill. There is no going back afterwards._

_You can do anything, Lloyd, if you try hard enough._

_Only one of us is going to make it to the top!_

_I _am _the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master._

_You're hurt! You don't stand a chance!_

_You're no Green Ninja! You're a failure! Nobody loves _you!

_Her skin was pale, but a nice shade of pale…_

_Twinkies? You in there?_

_You do realize I _am _standing right here…Right?_

_Dude, I really wish you'd warn me next time._

_He was in the doorway? Standing there? Laughing, did you say? Because it looks to me like there isn't anything there._

_I'm sick, Darreth. And you're the only one who can help me._

_NO ONE HURTS KAI!_

_It's trying to distract us! It knows I have the stone and it wants it back!_

_Lloyd, I…I never really told you, but I-I…there's something you need to know about me._

_Yeah, yeah. Ignore the fangs and soldier on, will ya?_

_GREEN!_

_Well, now you can. Now you can, now you can, now you can…_

_You are the Tonguespeaker._

_READ. MY. Map. _

_I turned it off._

_There is a place, deep within each of us…_

_Perhaps this could be of use?_

_Ugh, are we _still _doing this?_

_I don't want to fight you, but I will if I have to. _

_Go! Just leave! We can do this without you!_

_Ninja rollllll! Ninja recover!_

_I hit him! I actually hit him, guys!_

_Whoa…the Temple of Light!_

_The bell. It's an instrument!_

_What's happening?!_

_Nobody move!_

_My turn._

_So…how did you meet him?  
Who, Sensei Wu?  
No, my father._

_I suppose I could use some help around the shop._

_It's a medallion!_

_Can I help?_

_Hold on, Nya, I'm coming…Nya, are you there?_

_Adventure stories were my favorite._

_Ha, ha…_Jealous?

_You put fire ants in my bed. _

_My dad is gonna be so mad!  
Yeah, join the club._

_GIVE ME ALL YOUR CANDY!_

_Lloyd! _

_Ugh, LLOYD…_

_Lloyd, knock it off!_

_Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon!_

_Lloyd, the Green Ninja? HA! I've heard better jokes from a dead Serpentine!_

_Lloyd…Whyyyyy are you laying on the floor? Seriously. Who does that?_

_Kai! Kai help me!_

_Why do you call me that?  
Hey, it's better than Cupcakes…_

_Goldy Locks?_

_Lloyd! LLOYYYDDD! _

_Your father loved you._

_There was a time when I loved your father very much._

_And now I have to…fight him._

_I'm going to be just like my dad someday!_

Yeah. I guess I am. Lloyd couldn't see the ground in front of him. The voices of the people he loved seemed so real as they ricocheted off of the trees' bark, plummeting into his ears at intense speeds. His brain fogged over. In his arms, Seiko moved slightly, her face burying into his chest, while underneath her own, her heart began to beat once more. He didn't notice.

Lloyd couldn't walk anymore. It was difficult enough to breathe. He fell to his knees in the safety of a tree's roots, nestling Seiko into the large, overgrown feet beside him. Sure. He'd just…close his eyes, and this would all go away. He was having a nightmare. That was it; this wasn't real. He looked at Seiko's pale skin in the darkness and noticed that her eyelids weren't gray anymore, and her lips were pink again. He smiled. Numbly, he pushed aside a lock of her hair, but was too tired to move anymore; he closed his eyes. What a long day. _Long, long day…_

When Lloyd fell asleep, a balance in the earth was upset. The scales shifted, the odds fluctuated, and everything from that point on was different. This was not a war between good and evil anymore.

It was a war between death and who came first.


	27. Chapter 26: I Hate Snakes AND Caroline

**PLEASE READ UNDER THE BOLD TODAY, THANKS, IMPORTANT MESSAGES TO ALL READERS**

Okay…am gonna stop promising about Eloquim being the next chapter. . That title is coming up within the next couple of chapters, though I don't know which one, so you're gonna hafta bear with me. I don't think it makes that big an impact on you, so you're fine, but just thought I should let you know. And I _think _you can look fwd to reading about Garmadon next chapter. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna start it off with him, maybe end with someone else, but. **TO THE IMPORTANT STUFF BELOW!**

I'm gonna say this now, guys. Previously, Lloyd was injected with the Devourer's venom, (!) which then made him "harmless" to Eloquim. Yeah. I know. EVIL OF ME, RIGHT?! But everything I do happens for a reason. So, since that made him "harmless," that means that he won't be an issue because he would—well, not exactly SUPPORT Elo, but he wouldn't be offended by it. You know what I'm sayin'? He won't exactly be _on_ Team Evil, but he's not gonna be against it, either…you see where I'm going with this? (_Unless_ someone can save him. ;3) So that would very much mean that Lloyd Garmadon is **no longer **part of the Seven, because now Lloyd is **neutral, **like Dr. Julien, Lou, Ed & Edna, Dani, etc. He has no place in the battle, really, because A) he doesn't care, and B) it would be like fighting a banana. o It would be completely "pointless," in Lloyd's mind, because he doesn't support either side. He doesn't care who would win or lose.

So in that case…there are now _two _spots on the Ninja's Crusade (a.k.a The Seven) to fill. Right now, (I'm going against the rules here to tell you this) it's neck-and-neck between Seiko and Garmadon, with Rikku climbing up behind them. **So if I can ask you to tell me, in the reviews, which two YOU want to see fill the last two spots of the Ninja's Crusade, that would be so lovely! **NOTE: If Lloyd is somehow saved from the Devourer's venom by somebody, this could change. ANOTHER NOTE: No, Seiko isn't dead. I've gotten PM's about it. She isn't. I said so like 3 times in the chapter she "died" and the chapter of the Venom. She's alive. Okay? ALIVVEEE! She had to die in order for Noel to become the true Prince of Darkness (remember "the Murder of One" for Kai's transition back in "Shadow Dancer" and "The Autumn of Twilight"? I wasn't gonna waste time on details about it then, but it will be mentioned in a conversation with Elo eventually in the near future) because she fit the riddle:

"**A stone cold fury—**she goes bonkers on Cole and Nya in the Temple of Forgotten Warriors for absolutely no reason (and if you've read her personal fanfic, "No Way Out," then that will support that even more)

"**A laughter in its most chattering ways—**Seiko had a crazy laugh/cackle. She had inherited this through her supernatural bond with Kiko, because Kiko is insane, and that's what made Seiko half crazy.

"**A strong voice in the art of technology—**Seiko likes mechanical things, but not _overly _mechanical things. I don't know if I built strongly on this or mentioned it once or twice. Horrid memory.

"**And a chill in the coldest of days—**that is also a phrase that is an emotional play as well as her easy-to-get-coldness. On bad days (cold days) she has this dark chill of bad, negative feelings come over her, and she becomes angry and spiteful and wicked for no reason whatsoever, other than the fact that it's the supernatural bond she doesn't know about controlling her.

I thought maybe you guys would remember that, but I guess maybe I overestimated it. ^^ Which is fine, I hope I cleaned up your brain a little bit. But I repeat, PMers, that **SEIKO IS NOT DEAD. **Otherwise she wouldn't even be in the running for a spot in the Ninja's Crusade. So, as long as I got all those announcements out, and y'all hopefully READ 'EM…Read on, my fellow ninja. ^^

* * *

_26. I Hate Snakes…and Caroline._

GARMADON DISAPPEARED INTO the ground, and Kai seized the moment to dart over the dry soil in pursuit of his next thought. He wasn't going to waste time when they had so little to spare in the first place. Grabbing onto the nearest snake, all he could think about was the fact that this may be their one and only chance to attack Eloquim, face-to-face, for a long time. If Darkley's was now what he thought it was, their new "home" wasn't as welcoming and friendly as the childhood comfort of Four Weapons. There was so little time to do everything that needed to be done at once; without the assistance of Zane, who also decided it was time to spring into action, he might not have accomplished much within the first few minutes of their preplanned attack.

Of course, Cole and Jay were completely out of the loop—Kai was going to keep Nya out of as much trouble as he could manage, being pregnant and all—so it was up to Kai and Zane to hopefully light the match to drop onto this puddle of lighter fluid that had become their life. Eventually, he hoped there was insight in the future for his other clueless friends, but for now, the focus was on hurling as many of these snakes out of his way so he could actually perform his part of the plan.

Zane followed his lead. While they may have caught on to Cole's plan for Garmadon, it seemed like Jay was still sporting the classical incompetent demeanor. He really needed to switch on his thinking cap and use context clues, because Kai wasn't ready to lose this one chance because of his friend's stubbornness. He racked on Cole with a squeaky voice of how stupid the vampire was, but really, Kai wasn't listening. He was focused on doing this.

When Kai and Zane had slipped out of the bedroom to discuss their current knowledge the night before, he'd had a grim feeling that they'd be facing danger soon. They were sitting ducks on that boat, just waiting to be imperviously taken-over by whatever sick green tumor had conceived the evil into everyone else on that ship. Everybody, it seemed, except for Garmadon. Was it the Devourer's venom that kept him completely immune to the poison, or was he just too tenacious to be swayed into evil again? Zane had some theories on how they could tell the others about what they knew—things like the Murder of One, The Autumn of Twilight, the Final Sacrifice, and the all-famous Blind One that everyone kept mumbling about. Kai didn't know who "the Blind One" was, but all the Elemental Leaders could even bother to subjugate was the fact that "The Blind One would save them," and "the Blind One will give us salvation." He had this feeling in the pit of his stomach that he should know exactly who they were talking about every time the term was spoken, but it was like when something rested on the tip of your tongue. It seemed unnamable. Why was it so hard for him to figure it out?

Picking up the nearest Venomari, Kai hurled the snake. Eloquim had hoped to accomplish something when he released these snakes again. After the Overlord's initial defeat, Zane had told everyone he could sense the snakes were trapped in a tomb underneath Ninjago, the tomb where the Stone Army had initially peered in malevolent slumber. Kai had been relieved, but that was pretty short lived when it came to his ninja duties. _A ninja's work is never really done, _he thought. He punched a snake in the face.

First the Skulkins, then the snakes, then the Stone Army, then the snakes _and _skulkins, and now the snakes again, plus a resurrected Overlord and pissed Shadow Dancer. Kai didn't know how he was still living.

Beside him, Zane's Spinjitzu was colorless. The ninja stopped in mid-tornado to use his trusty backflips against the serpents. They just kept _coming. _Really, how many more were there to fight? Did they procreate while they were in that tomb or _what? _What about the snakes they'd killed _before _any of this had happened?

Suddenly at Kai's side, Nya used her stick to poke a blue snake in the eye. It walked away screaming. "Sis!" he shouted. "Be careful!"

"I can take care of myself, Kai!" Nya responded. Kai had no doubts in his mind that she could. Nya had proved to be stronger than _any _of them, even when she was possessed. Still, he couldn't let her get hurt because of that protective brotherly contusion in his brain. Related or not, Nya was always going to be Kai's younger sister, and keeping her safe was his job. He couldn't think of any other way to be.

Cole had caught on to the gig. He used his brute force to push aside tens of snakes with just one blow. The supernatural speed _also _came in handy when he was not only confusing them, but using the blurry form to his advantage. Kai had thought long and hard about Cole's vampirism for an extremely lengthy time now. He had his suspicions, long ago, that it wasn't just the "Ninja of Earth" performance being his only drive. Granted, Kai was usually doubtful of a lot of things, and finding that a particular reason to investigate hadn't been voted on. Figuring it out, though, was still blowing him away. Nobody just _didn't react _to finding that kind of vital piece of information out. Kai had found out a few nights after the Overlord died that Cole was more than human when he caught the ninja trying to fight the hunger on a cool, starry night. It was actually a real challenge to get the secret out. It didn't surprise Kai that it was, since Cole sucked at voicing his feelings, but it definitely made him feel better after letting the fire ninja in-the-know. It would've had that effect on anyone, really.

_Wow, _Kai realized while burning off a scaly hand from his arm, _I've been the first to figure out a lot of things. I figured out Nya was the Samurai, then I figured out that Lloyd was the Green Ninja…I must be attractive to the number one, _he smirked. He'd had some pretty good times with these guys, despite the enemies who kept rolling down the hill in large packs. Kai didn't think he would've made very many friends outside of Four Weapons, considering he really only trusted Nya. Aside from the few friends he'd had before, anyway, which consisted of, like, six people. Millie Sacha (or _Sacha Millie, _if you wanted to say it in the right context) had been a mutual friend of the family's, along with her older brother Luke, but he hadn't spoken to them since he'd become a ninja. Tyler Skunks had been his best friend growing up, but again, Tyler was back in Ignacia, and Kai was in Ninjago City, miles away from there. He didn't even think Tyler knew where he was. Maybe except for unknowingly in the tabloids.

"NINJA-GO!" He called into the air. He didn't regret anything at all in these past couple of years being with Jay, Cole, Zane, and Lloyd at all. He didn't think there could've been any better best friends out there for him. No one more loyal than them could even _exist. _Though they all had their rough patches, particularly triangles involving Jay because Zane miraculously got along with everybody, they were brothers, a quintet of ninja who loved each other more than anything. Even if nobody would verbally admit that, except for Zane, who pretty much loved everybody excluding for jerks like Eloquim.

Kai would go as far to admit it seemed like a lot had changed between them all ever since the Shadow Dancer appeared. With Jay and Cole falling into a battle over his sister before Cole finally called it quits and wiped the memory clean, and the discovery that one of them _was _a vampire, as well as the fact that Lloyd had a deadly disease and was forced to fight someone to the death in the Great Battle—with the whole world resting on his shoulders—yeah, they could evenly say a lot had changed since that first day, but they were still the same people, just distorted. Kai planned on reviving every single one of those individuals back to normal. Technically, Jay _was _normal, and so was Cole because he hadn't changed at all, other than the fact that his secret was out. Zane and Kai had both experienced death, then rebirth, so they were different, too. But they were _still the same. _Sure, they'd seen more of a sad side to Jay, and more of a self-hatred side of Cole, and a human side of Zane, and an evil part of Kai, not to mention every emotional mishap that occurred with Lloyd. But that was just _emotion, _he told himself. That was parts of them that nobody ever saw being drug out because of everything that was happening. Was he still the same guy he was back then, ravenously searching for his sister while warming up to the other ninja? Yeah, just a lot less impulsive. The only one who _wasn't _the same was…well, Lloyd.

But nobody could blame the kid for that. He was stressed, that was all. Kai was more determined now than ever to find him and show him his face. Lloyd _needed _to know that Kai was alive. It would give him more life back. The poor thing had seen so much death happen, who _wouldn't _that change?

He _needed _to come home. Needed to, with a capital "N." When Kai, Zane, Jay, and Cole were recruited as Ninjas, they had more than just one purpose: they were there to protect the Green Ninja. Kai took that a little more seriously than anyone else did, because, well, he was closer to Lloyd than the others were. He knew that he would stop at nothing to make sure that part of his destiny was fulfilled, and commence the return Lloyd home safely.

He ninja kicked another enemy, eyeballing Eloquim standing on Darkley's porch steps. He and Zane hadn't actually plotted this part of the plan, because who would _ever _have seen that coming? Darreth had smacked him hard on the head with a hammer, he realized. How was he not dead?

Then he remembered: _his father. _Though the guy was purely evil and lived on nothing but the condensed format of it, he had a devotion to his son, against him or not, that would last a lifetime. _Good, _Kai thought. He still didn't know what he was supposed to do with the fact that he was the King Elathan's son, but the guy hadn't really posed a threat throughout this whole journey, so how could he worry about him? The sole problem was Eloquim, and currently, that was who Kai focused on. He felt his face morph into his usual determined expression when watching the black cloaked figure stare back at him. He didn't know where that Mega Weapon had even come from, because he strictly remembered destroying it. The Big Bad Shadow Dancer must've had people on the inside while he waddled around underneath that jacket of his. Kai wondered what would happen if he suddenly _didn't _have that robe…

Looking at Darkley's towering before him, he knew that Eloquim must've done something to it to make it apparently so mortifying to the Ninja. If he wanted to hold them captive in there, there must've been _something _he'd created to postpone them from stopping his little renovations looking for the Shadow Key. What would happen if somehow, Eloquim was trapped inside?

Kai grinned. Had he just come up with a plan?

Whirling, he used his fist to smack aside another snake, but this time, there was another one waiting in advance. He barely glanced into the acid-green snake's eyes before he felt the sharp sting of its venom spraying into his eyes.

**JAY**

Jay felt stronger, albeit a little shocked from the crack in the earth only a few feet away from them, seeing that trademark half frown on Kai's face. He only ever saw that when Kai was in one of his serious moods. It was the best thing to the spikey-haired, egotistical fire ninja there could've been. It seemed to have that same uplifting effect on everyone. Zane worked on the snakes with a little more thrust to his attacks, while Cole ran a little faster, not like he needed to. Jay made sure he was near Nya purposefully to make sure that she was completely safe—it also looked like Kai had the same plan, which was totally fine with Jay. Double the protection, the lesser chance of his girlfriend getting hurt.

Everything was going great until the Venomari actually _used _the first five letters of their name.

Kai made a noise and jumped away. Since Zane was _aaalll _the way over there and Cole had only just turned to observe, it was Jay who had his best friend's back, letting Kai fall backwards into his arms so he could swap places with him. It _shocked _the Venomari warrior to see him there so quickly. "Hey, Big Nose," he cried, picking up his usual sense of cheesy humor. Behind him, Kai stumbled while rubbing his eyes. "What do you call a snake who spits on my best friend?"

The green snake paused. "I dunno," it announced after a moment.

"_Hiss_-tory!" Jay kicked the warrior in the stomach, sending a deep electrical shock through the sole of his foot. The scaly fiend disappeared in an arch through the sky.

Turning back to Kai, he found his friend's eyes were misted over with that old, confused glaze, looking around him in confusion. He didn't look so determined anymore. "Jay!" He whispered, eyes wide. He ran behind the blue ninja to hide. "Jay, they're back! The gingerbread people are _BACK! _And this time they have _candy canes!" _

Jay sighed. "Just stay by me, Kai, and just try and hit a couple?"

"They look like they want to _eat _me!"

"Cookies don't eat people, Kai," Jay told him, wishing desperately that he had a pair of nunchucks to swing around his head, but they didn't exactly offer weapons to captives. He glanced towards Nya with a quick beat of his heart. He'd left her unattended to! Was she okay?

He caught sight of her, off in the mess, causing bleeding noses, but unharmed. He sighed in relief, thinking that she'd kept herself safe. But then, he kinda noticed that Cole was near her, not quite close enough to be noticed by her, but close enough to protect her if she needed help. He didn't know why, but he felt a pang of jealousy birth in his heart then die in the span of a second. Cole was just looking out for her. No biggie. He was glad that the other ninja had stepped in to fill in for him. Otherwise…Jay didn't want to imagine what could've happened to Nya.

He was getting ready to attack when he felt someone try to bite his arm.

"What are you doing?"

Kai looked completely irrational. He blinked sleepily at Jay. "Everyone else is doing it," he pointed towards the snakes, trying to bite Zane, but the white ninja had more strength. His fingers clasped around the blackened throat of Constrictai, throwing him down. _Go Ninja go! _Jay silently cheered. He used his Spinjitzu to smack into a pound of ugly slithering things.

"This really isn't a time to give into peer pressure, Kai," Jay warned. "Can't you just fight them?"

"JAY!"

"What?!" Whirling, the lightning ninja expected to find that Kai was in trouble, but instead found him spun the opposite direction and holding out his arms like a blind person.

"I see elves. Is that normal?"

"Uh, no. Can you please stay still so I can protect you?" Jay did his best to keep ahold of the mischeviously hypnotized Kai by grabbing his collar, but the fire ninja was too much to keep an eye on while also beating up snakes.

"JAY!"

"WHAT?!"

"I see dead people and they want my candy!" Kai screamed. Jay glanced over his shoulder at the cowering guy, hunkered on the ground while watching snakes gather around him. His green eyes, misty, were huge. Jay sighed heavily.

"_Ninjaa—" _Nope. Jay watched as Kai screamed, but was miraculously yanked out of the way by a blurry dark mass. Cole pushed aside the hallucinating Kai to use his own Spinjitzu. Once again, the vampire boy was coming to the rescue. Jay shivered sickly.

"You need to do as Jay says, Hothead," Cole reached down to help up the collapsed Kai. "We can't have you getting hurt."

Kai, dizzy, got to his feet. "Nnnyaaa," he hummed dreamily, holding out his arms. He waded into the snake crowd. "Oh, Nnnyyaaa…"

Cole and Jay stared after his disappearing form with equal confusion. "What in the…" Cole murmured.

"O…kay," Jay emphasized. He and Cole exchanged a glance. "He's officially lost it."

"Can't lose what you never had," Cole pointed out, and started after him. Jay sort-of wished that Cole would just leave Kai to him, but decided he had a better chance of protecting his venom-poisoned friend. After all, Cole had better accuracy when it came to getting to the scene on time. Jay took it as an opportunity to find Nya again, knowing that Kai had walked the wrong way, and went to protect the girl he loved from the dastardly snakes he hated.

**ZANE**

Zane stepped down hard on a snake's neck, hearing the satisfying _crunch _of its spinal cord underneath his boot just as Kai wandered up. "Hello," he said pleasantly, when he noticed that Kai's eyes were hidden underneath that vapor of light green that meant a Venomari had attacked. He frowned. "Kai?"

"Zane?" Kai turned to him. He noted the dead snake at his feet. "ZANE! YOU KILLED A GINGERBREAD MAN!" He pointed while yelling. Zane's brows furrowed.

"A ginger—?"

"Bear with me," Cole appeared behind the fire ninja who every snake seemed interested in attacking. He body slammed a Fangpyre into the ground. "He's afraid of Christmas-related themes."

"Oh," Zane said breathlessly. He glanced at the blacksmith with a dull, childish fear on his face. "I…see?"

Zane caught sight of Jay and Nya working as a team not too far away. He moved closer to them by a step, but was caught up in his own battles. It appeared there were far too many snakes coming from all directions. If he could somehow prevent them from coming from the floodgate that produced them, then their odds of defeating them all would be greater. He already felt his human body start to sweat and pant. It was a brand-new sensation, at least to him, who had been around in nindroid form for longer than he had as a human. The last time Zane had actually sweated, it was a year as early as Garmadon and Wu's youth.

There was a rumbling noise that shook the campus of Darkley's, shaking the ground worse than the drilling of the snakes did when burrowing into the dirt. It wasn't as bad as Cole's instantaneous canyon creation, but enough to nearly knock the intoxicated Kai off his feet. The fire ninja would've landed hard if Zane hadn't caught him. Cole struggled to contain balance while Kai burrowed his face into Zane's chest. "You smell…like lilacs," Kai commented dreamily. Zane would've felt uncomfortable if he hadn't been concentrating on keeping his feet on the ground. Kai stared at the snakes. "Look! The gingerbread men are retreating!"

It was true. The crowd was beginning to thin. Zane exchanged a worried glance with Cole, then Jay and Nya, who held onto each other tightly. The gate of Darkley's restored property was opening wide to reveal a large dump truck hauling itself through the thin rails. "What…?" Cole muttered, startled. He backed away as the large, deep green truck, many feet taller than Zane, whirred to life. It dragged itself into the courtyard.

"Whoaaa…" Kai whispered, pushing off Zane as the truck slowed to a stop, inches away from Darkley's front steps and Eloquim's hunched, unfazed form. "It's _giant!" _

Zane watched as the driver's large door opened. Cole edged closer to them.

And out from the darkness and into the light stepped Caroline, ninja suit and all.

**COLE**

Oh, great. Bitch was on a roll now, wasn't she?

"Hi, boys," flaunted the redhead, wearing _ZANE'S _ninja suit. She jumped down from the huge height of the tire onto the ground with grace. "Nice to see you're awake."

"After _you _putting us down!" Cole shouted angrily. He really wasn't surprised that Caroline, of all people, would join the evil side—although a little betrayed—since it seemed like a trend happening with his friends now. Clenching his fists, he wanted to go up and smack her, but knew that wouldn't end well. The haughty smirk on her face beamed worse than Kai's.

"_Caroline?" _gasped Nya incredulously. He turned to Jay and Nya's opposite reactions of his: utter _bewilder_ment. He remembered, though vaguely, that neither of them had been awake for the big reveal that Care-Care was one of the bad guys. He pitied them, but was glad that he had been somewhat awake when this happened.

"Hey," Caroline waved casually, as though she was saying hello on a lunch date. She turned back to her giant car while waving at someone on the other side, though not in greeting. She was using her hand as a command. At that same moment, he saw the flicker of a tongue in the passenger's seat. His sensitive ears pricked to catch half the words spoken.

"…_drop the gate?" _hissed an accent. Cole wanted to kick himself.

Pythor.

Again.

How many times did they have to kill him only for him to return from the dead? After the Devourer _demolished _him with his trachea, Pythor's purple body had been restored by Eloquim. Then, he was pretty sure it was Ming or Rikku who shot him through the heart in the Temple of Forgotten Warriors. Cole had seen the thick corpse sprawled across the marble the second before he was staked. Had Eloquim resuscitated him again, or was there something _deeper _going on with the Anacondrai survivor that no one knew about?

"Ya," Caroline responded, snapping her gum. "Get out the caskets."

"_Caskets?" _repeated Zane disbelievingly. Cole felt instantly bad for his friend. He'd just returned from the dead to find that his girlfriend—who, obviously, he was nuts about, judging by the way he looked at her last night—was completely insane. Oh, wonderful. Apparently, there was no reconciled love in the world. The white ninja looked pained and angered all at once. Cole chose to stand by him and would attack her the second he saw something related to regret in the icy blues of Zane's real irises.

Caroline turned with a smile. "Ya," she repeated, and giggled.

Kai looked abashed, although not _as _abashed as he would've been, had he been, er, _normal. _How long had it taken for the Venomari's spit to wear off last time? Hours? A day? Spinjitzu had been a challenge for the fire ninja at that point, rendering him pretty much useless in battle. They didn't _have _excess time to waste. Rumbling his throat, Cole flexed his fingers as the drawbridge in the back of the overly large haul truck opened. What was in there?

"Look at her hair," Kai whispered to Cole furiously. Cole glanced sideways at him. "It's moving like—"

"_Snakes," _Cole filled in dully. He rolled his eyes. "I know."

Kai looked more startled that Cole had heard this routine before than he had when he saw Caroline. "You see it too?" He whispered to the earth ninja. Cole drug his gloved palm down his face. Oh, Kai…

Hypnobrai warriors pulled out a huge, mahogany casket from the back of the truck, obviously fighting the struggle. The pair looked winded as they grabbed at the rails of the box. Zane watched in fear. Cole couldn't imagine what was going through his mind right now. That was a casket that had been housing one of his robotic family members for centuries. Who could be resting inside of it now, waiting to be woken up like the others?

Kai rubbed his forehead. "Why are they carrying a sausage?" he asked aloud.

No one answered him. Instead, Jay whirled on Caroline's stiffly haughty form with rage. "How could you do this to us?!" He cried. "How could you do this to _ZANE?!" _

Cole himself had been wondering the same thing. Apparently, Caroline wasn't fond of the idea and spun, giving Jay her best girly grimace. Cole wasn't really offended by it at all. He was glad when Jay wasn't, either, because redheads couldn't look menacing with their dumb robotic faces all scrunched up like that. She just looked like she'd smelled something really bad. "It's always _Zane _with you people, isn't it?" She snarled. "Everyone wants to know if _Zane _is okay, if _Zane _is happy, if _Zane _is fine. 'How can you do this to _Zane?'" _She mocked them frivolously. Jay looked like he wanted to hit her, and Jay wasn't normally violent towards other people who weren't Cole.

"Jealous?" Jay retorted. "Maybe it's because we actually _care _about how Zane feels!"

"Because he's a big _baby," _Caroline answered heatedly. "You wouldn't be half as worried about him if he were more of a man than a child, just like he was when he died. He'll never grow up."

_That's not true. Zane _has _grown up, _he thought. Cole looked at Zane for indication.

The human looked at his feet.

_Enough for me, _Cole thought, lunging like he'd promised himself. His face ripped into the vampire fury. Caroline whirled on him at the last second with a flattered smile on her face, holding out her hand as if to stop Cole. A blast of power shot from her fingertips. Freezing Cole to the heart, the earth ninja fell in a heap at her feet, his chest so cold it was hot. His skin burned. Somehow, Caroline had unlocked her elemental powers without him! Had Sensei taught her when Cole wasn't around?

Then he remembered that Sensei was evil. So of _course _he'd taught her.

Cole gripped his chest. Wow. Who knew something seemingly as harmless as a sheet of ice over his shirt was as violent as it was now?

"Hey!" Jay yelled. "Nobody does that to my friends!" He held out his hand, shooting those characteristic blue sparks from his gloved fingertips in a divergent fashion. Cole just began to sit up, chipping away the ice with his fingertips, while Caroline deflected Jay's blow using glass shards of ice. He wondered how quickly it had taken her to master the element while hoisting himself to his feet.

Zane was pale, but he stepped up. "Caroline—" He began sternly.

He got hit in the face with a snowball.

"Hey!" Cole yelled. Zane stumbled back, reeling. "Nobody throws snowballs at him but me!" Caroline rolled her eyes at him and hurled a snowball at him, too. Cole was pretty sure he'd lost all feeling in his chest, but reached for her, prepared to hog-tie her and throw her into the car again. She had just crystallized an icy stake in her hand when they heard the voice call from high, high above:

"Whoo-hoo, rooaaaaddd trriiippppp…" the familiar voice said. Cole froze in his tracks, watching the smug look darken Caroline's face as she pushed him away like he was a kitten trying to nip at her nose. But by the sound of that voice, Cole was so completely frozen solid that his muscles ached with refusal to move.

"I love road trips. _Except _for when hitchhiking snakes decide they want to use me as lunch. Then, it becomes a completely opposite situation—Hi, Cole!" Kiko's voice was immediately behind him. Her thin, warm hands reached around his neck and cradled his chin. _I swore I killed you, _Cole thought. How could she be here? He'd snapped her neck, killing Sei—

He'd killed Kiko. Why wasn't she dead? How was she even _here? _

How was Pythor here?

Something was definitely up.

In horror, Cole couldn't move, not even while Caroline occupied Jay. Kiko's fingers slipped around his waist as she pulled herself closer. "Aren't you gonna tell me 'welcome home'?" she whispered in his ear, playfully nipping his shoulder. Cole shook his head.

"N…" The rest of the word didn't exist. He couldn't speak. Yeah, yeah, laugh about it later, but she _scared _him.

"Whhhooaaa…" Kai's voice whispered from nearby. "Look! It's…Santa!"

Cole had a vague sense that he was referring to Kiko. He wanted to badly to detach her grip, to whirl, and kill her again, but something stopped him. Maybe it was intuition. Maybe it was a sixth sense. Maybe it was instinct.

Or maybe it was just good, old-fashioned, plain _fear._

**ZANE**

The casket touched the ground, and Zane couldn't hide his contaminating curiosity. He looked at the snakes as they unlocked the guild with Caroline's key, hissing whispers between each other. He heard a slight pounding. Was it his heart? Unable to tell, Zane ignored the sting of shocking tears over his snowball-soaked face and looked at the way the casket's upper lid cracked open wide, revealing whom was inside, but from his angle, Zane couldn't see. He sat up straighter. Which of his siblings had Caroline brought here today, to flaunt victoriously in front of him? Who would she attempt to torture him with?

Zane watched as a panel was opened, and a switch was flipped. The snake nestled the panel door closed with a reassuring pat. Zane moved to try and see who it was, but the snakes blocked his way. Oh, drats, these peculiar creatures…He wiped off his soaking chin and nose, freezing with the cold. He couldn't feel his frostbit face.

Zane sat forward as the rest of the two, half-lidded casket was opened. Caroline, having defeated a beat Jay, turned expectantly. Zane briefly saw that the Original Vampire had returned, but his brain was elsewhere. He felt that childish curiosity creep up on him again. He wanted to know what was in the box.

_Flashback. _Struggling to keep it down, Zane stood shakily, trying not to let his past come back to him. The last time he was curious about a box, it hadn't ended well. He rubbed his face again and stepped closer.

"Welcome back," Caroline said, but not to Zane.

There was a loud gasp of breath as someone struggled to intake it, the "lungs" of someone who hadn't had air in quite some time.

And from inside the casket, much to Zane's horror and dismay, he watched his brother's icy blue eyes shoot open. Rikku bolted upright in his casket, eyes wide, chest heaving. Zane barely heard himself whisper his brother's name.

But he couldn't stop the way he surveyed his brother, who looked intimately different. The hair…the clothes…it didn't fit him; Caroline had altered his body so horrifically that he barely looked like the droid who replicated his brother anymore. Zane met Rikku's icy eyes with shock. Why had Caroline debilitated him again? Because she thought he was a threat?

Was Rikku one of the Seven?

Struggling to find his way out, Rikku moved his knees, bending them so they worked better underneath his jeans, but Zane found that, with the movement of Kiko and Cole in his peripheral vision, Rikku was not well, not well at all.

Because in his lap, ruined by a demon of every possible humanoid function possible, was Ming Lao's beautiful, detached head. And scratched across her forehead by a knife's sharp blade were two chicken-scratched, demonic words, carved by the devil herself:

_YOU'RE NEXT._

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**CAN I PLEEEEAASSSEE ask you to tell me, in the reviews or a PM, which two YOU want to see fill the last two spots of the Ninja's Crusade out of the choices: Garmadon, Rikku, or Seiko, since Rikku has second place for highest # of votes and Seiko & Garmadon or tied. **

**so, with that being said, PLEEEEEEAAAAASSSEEEE WITH CHERRIES ON TOP DO SO, TELL ME IN THE REVIEWS, AND GO HAVE AN AWESOME DAY/NIGHT AND PLEASE SCREAM AT YOUR BROCCOLI OMELETS!****;) (STORIESAREMAGIC FAVORITE MOMENT EVER!)**


	28. Chapter 27: Caroline Gets It

**More of a filler chapter…Not my best. :\ But this stuff needed to get out of the way**

_27. Caroline Gets It_

KAI'S VISION OF the world was distorted, strange, and abnormal on so many levels.

Though the gingerbread people retreated into the Candy Cane Castle towering over them, ducking behind the monster truck full of gumdrops parked in front of them, he still partially understood what the situation was. Cole was there, and so was Jay, and even Zane, but they weren't focused on him at that point. Kai _thought _he saw Caroline inflicting evil, ice-based attacks against Jay, but at the same time, could he trust his own judgment? Cole looked like he had a floppy orange tumor sticking to his back, one dangerously resembling Kiko. And Zane looked really…wobbly. Kai glanced sideways at the white ninja while trying to process the look on Zane's tiresome, dazed expression, wondering how his arms were able to _move _like that. Without really intending to, Kai reached forward to poke his friend's arm. Why? No clue, he just felt like doing it.

Aaaannnddd…Kai tried to keep his balance in check. Wow. Who knew poking Zane was gonna be so tedi—

Kai shrieked.

He saw Jay whirl, but his eyes were fixed on the huge purple blob hopping out of the truck's driver's seat, a writhing mass of extra phalanges and long red tongues. He pointed, unsure of how else to react with the breath knocked completely out of him. The world was becoming bizarrely…wonky. Why was everything _shaking_ so much? It was making Kai feel really…really…reeeaaallllyyy….

**NYA**

And down Kai went. His snores weren't _totally _loud, but loud enough to make Nya want to kick him in the pointy head. This _wasn't _the time to take naps! Nya dropped loyally to his side to pull her unconscious brother into her arms, rubbing the curve of Kai's strong jawline, stroking his flushed cheeks with her thumbs. With his head resting gently against the small curve of her slowly-growing belly, she kept her brother close, but kept her enemies closer.

Caroline startled her with the new indication that she wasn't supporting Team Ninja. The other girl had been so sweet, so helpful to Nya and the boys, trying to locate Lloyd when she barely even _knew _the kid. She'd dedicated hours of her time to researching newspaper articles, (illegally) searching hospital ward records, and even police files _just _to help out the ninja's depreciating crusade. It was just so hard to understand why _Caroline _would want to join the evil side. Especially when Zane was head-over-heels in love with her.

Yeah, Nya saw it the night that he and Kai returned from the dead. The way Zane looked at Caroline was…well, it was the way Jay looked at Nya. She knew, as a girl and experienced romanticist, that when men looked like everything they'd ever wanted existed right in front of them, there was obvious love there. She had been so blinded by Zane's twitterpated-ness that she didn't notice the lack of response from Caroline, although Zane had hardly let her go all night. How could she accept that love, those tender kisses, all night, knowing that she was _lying _to him? How could she be so sick?

Nya brushed away tears. _I will not cry for Zane, _she thought. _If Zane wants to cry, he would do it on his own._ Zane stared at Rikku, who stared at poor Ming's head in his lap, before turning his icy blue torpedoed eyes on Caroline's form. Jay had faltered from fighting her, but his angered aura still remained while he retreated back to Nya's side. Cole broke free of Kiko's strangling grip to randomly appear at Zane's side.

Caroline, who grinned devilishly at the truck's door, was sided by Pythor. Why couldn't he stay dead? Why couldn't he just remain unalive? Who—or what—was keeping him here?

Nya held tighter onto her brother. Protectively, Jay moved to shield her from the vampire, the psychotic nindroid, and the snake like any loving boyfriend would. Nya decided it wasn't the time to think about how much she loved him and glanced at Rikku's enraged, solid, _angry _form.

**RIKKU**

"You _bitch!" _He held in his hands Ming's mutilated head, her electrified face, the ripped cords of where her mental capacity wires had connected to that of her progressing metallic spinal cord's. Caroline, last he'd seen her, was wielding that black box and an extremely experienced smile. He had his doubts, but he'd always pushed them aside; thinking that your little brother's girlfriend—and the woman you once loved—was evil didn't compute well with your system. Lifting and gently stowing away Ming's head, Rikku seethed, pouring out his robotic feelings against that redheaded wench_. _She betrayed them by becoming a murderous, self-centered, good-for-nothing _bitch _who only breathed the air that could've been saved for the less fortunate victims of the world. Why was it that beautiful women were always on the bad side?It was happening again, he realized. History was repeating itself.

_Katherine. _

He slammed any thoughts away. He wouldn't—would NOT—think about Katherine now. Why would he? It would be pointless to mourn over what no longer mattered. Katherine was _long _gone. She'd _been _long gone. Why would he even bother to weep over her anymore? Katherine was Katherine, which equaled a corpse in the ground. She was nonexistent. He'd seen her die. Caroline wasn't Katherine; at least Katherine had the dignity to go with a goodbye. Caroline…well, she wasn't as _classy. _

Caroline looked at him with shiny black eyes, their hazel darkened by the deeds in which she'd performed. She didn't look bothered by his insult, nor the fact that she was the betrayer of all traitors, the murderer of best friends. Ming had done nothing wrong. Why on god's green earth would Caroline think it was _okay _to kill Ming?!

Rikku was okay with avenging her death.

Bolting out of the casket embroidered with his name, he launched himself through the air, images of Zane's brokenhearted face flashing through his mind. _No. _He wasn't going to let Little Brother have his heart smashed again. The first time, it was Rikku's fault he was in pain, Rikku's fault he had ever felt what a broken heart felt like, but there was no way that he was going to let _Carolyne Juliens, _of all people, step all over the heart of the one person on earth that Rikku knew had a pure heart. Zane didn't deserve that kind of beating. Not even when their father smacked him so hard with a whip, he _bled_, had Zane shed a tear. He wasn't a crier. And Rikku wasn't about to let him start.

It was one thing to let the older brother take the beatings. It was Rikku who, over all the years, repeatedly took the heartbreaks _because _he didn't want his brother to suffer through it. He was the one who soaked up the pain of having Katherine betray them, not Zane, because saying that Katherine was a traitor was far worse than the phrase, "She left us." Zane never knew that Katherine died, or that Katherine was as bad as you could get when dealing with women of the middle ages. When it was time for their mother to die, Rikku hadn't let Zane know that she was _dead. _He just told him that she'd "passed on into a better place." Of course, Zane never understood anything because he got bored too easily when they were human, so it had barely affected them. Rikku had been the one to strike awful deals with traders in order to make sure he and his orphaned brother had a place to stay, food to eat, and clothing when the goings got tough after the Reckoning, and Julien had purposely misplaced them so he could turn off the rest of the Clockwork Army and lock the Tombs. _He _was the one who slept with the patron's daughters to pay off their rent, or use himself as a model for the painters—Leon du Venti thought Rikku's genetic beauty was stunning—and even catching laborious _jobs _to make sure that Zane was okay. _Rikku_ was the brother who took the beating.

Not Zane.

And right now, Caroline was breaking _every _rule that Rikku had.

Caroline smirked at him when he landed. "Welcome back," she said pleasantly. Rikku shook his head indignantly at her.

"How could you?" He asked furiously. "Why would you do this?"

"Easy. Because I like to _win." _Caroline gestured towards the row of Ninja for Rikku as a display. "It's obvious that they aren't going to."

Rikku's fists clenched. He would've ran over there and disassembled her himself if Zane wasn't standing there. He recalled several memories in his database that supported Caroline's reasoning. She liked to have the upper hand, liked to be on top, one step ahead of everyone else. She was competitive. It would explain various things, but right now, gears turning in Rikku's head were aimed at a specific point in time he wasn't enjoying replaying. "It's all about that, isn't it?" He said spitefully. "Your rivalry with Dani, with Ming. That's why you killed them, isn't it?" He repeated. His voice was rising in mock hysteria. "You let Dani die from witchcraft because you were _jealous _that she was beautiful and you weren't. You were jealous of Ming because everyone liked her better than you. Because _I _liked her better than you." Rikku stepped forward, his sneakers crunching on the dirt. Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. "You hated when other girls were in the spotlight. You hated it when C—" he paused, skirting a sideways glance at Cole, who saw the catch in Rikku's sentence. His eyes flashed. "—Jay was drooling over Nya, because he _has _happiness you never will. Nya has what you don't: a baby, a boyfriend, and people who loved her. _Ming _had what you didn't: happiness, smarts, _me_." He tried not to let his voice catch. He continued as strong as he could manage, "_Dani _had what you didn't: A husband, people adoring her, a _son. _That's why you gave the baby away. You didn't like that _you _didn't have one because Zane couldn't _give _you one." Rikku shook his head at how completely typical this was.

From behind him, Zane stepped forth, his memory jogged by Rikku's words. The elder Montgomery boy turned to his younger brother's wide eyed gaze. "The baby," he remembered verbally, nodding. "I remember that incident."

"And I would've _won, _too," spat Caroline. She was admitting every crime she'd committed _up front. _Zane, at his brother's side, stared in horror. Maybe there was that part of both of them that hoped the girl they loved wouldn't really do any of that, but there wasn't a doubt anymore. "But that stupid kid keeps popping up."

**COLE**

"What kid?" Cole asked from the background, defiant. His deep voice was strong, betraying no signs of fear. He slinked to Zane's side with his arms crossed over his broad chest. His bushy brows furrowed. _What's she talking about? _He wondered, mind whirring. There could only be so many things.

Caroline was intolerant. "_The _kid. I had to do what I had to do because if he'd stayed here, he would ruin our whole plan, and I don't have time for rearranging the schedule. That dumb kid would've screwed _everything _up if he stayed here."

Cole was oblivious to what she meant, but pressed with every force inside of him. He wasn't letting her win this, especially with Zane's heart on the line. "What do you mean?" he expectorated. Caroline leered.

"I thought if maybe he wasn't on our plane of existence, we'd be okay," she swerved, avoiding his question in the literal sense. "If he wasn't here, he wouldn't be a threat. I thought maybe that would work. But I guess not, because he was going to kill our only connection to the Underworld if I let him sit too long. So I created a Plan B." Caroline shrugged. "With him out of the way…this wouldn't be too hard."

"Him…?" Jay qualified.

"You know," Caroline swept a lock of hair from her face, "him. The son. Lloyd Garmadon."

Cole got socked in the stomach. _What? _He thought repeatedly. Caroline had said…what? Was she serious, or was this an ill attempt to jockey the ninjas' emotions? Lloyd was the son of Misako and Garmadon. This girl was officially _nuts. _(Not that she hadn't been before.)

Zane, like usual, processed things quicker. His mind had already covered three miles of ground while Cole hadn't even gotten past the first. "_You sent him to the Underworld?!" _He cried, reaching a whole new level of despair in Cole. Oh, man, he was both happy and upset that Kai wasn't awake to see this…

Caroline nodded, like it was some accomplishment. "And had a little friend of ours poison him with the Devourer's venom," she informed them. Cole stared at her, even as her darkened hazel irises turned on him. "Oh, and BTW, your little sister is dead. Noel, the Prince of Darkness, killed her as of a few hours ago. And just so you know, she went quite _painfully._" Caroline chuckled darkly. Cole was still trying to understand this quick turn of events, but it wasn't too hard to activate the only thing he knew how to operate properly these days: _anger_.

Within the matter of a second, Cole had crossed the distance it took to reach Caroline, lifted his hand, and swung his fist hard into her rotten, unknowing face.

**Like I said, filler chapter. :\ not my greatest work. But anyway, at least Caroline got smacked. I been a-waitin' for that to happen. :3 PLEASE REVIEW, and go have an AWESOME day/night!**

**PS—thank you ALL for giving me your input on who you want to see claim the last two spots of the Ninja's Crusade, and all of your MARVELOUS reviews! They brought smiles to my face! I reread them over and over again because of how nice they were—so _thank you bunches! _*gives you hugs* It looks like Seiko and Garmadon are in the lead for the money… X3 We'll see if anyone else votes for Rikku (looks like everyone loves Garmy!) before we can properly determine the winners… ;D**

**Oh, and P.P.S-Sorry about slow updating for DAWN OF THE NINDROIDS. I'm working the next chapter out to perfection, so please be patient! XD**


	29. Chapter 28: Don't Be Down in the Bogs

**_AN: _****Updates can be really slow from here on out, guys, because there's a writing contest and I have to work on my script as much as I can to get it done, but I promise I'll try to give out as many chappies as I can! XD **

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_28. Don't Be Down in the Bogs_

GARMADON'S MOUTH WAS full of rancid, pungent gook that tasted slightly of Misako's attempt at Calla soup. In fact, whatever was violating his taste buds was also smeared across his face, matting his hair to his forehead like tar. He literally had to shove his hands against whatever surface he was on and _pry _himself out of the pond of random, unfamiliar substances.

He came gasping for air from the hellion, breaking through the dark exterior of the murky waters with a burst of strength. It felt like swimming through the child of death and snowy slush. It was rather difficult to push into the air above, but once his head found it, the hot air of the outside world collided with his sopping skin. He gasped for breath like he'd never tasted it before. Garmadon scrubbed the tar from his eyes before actually being able to evaluate the situation he was concurrently forced to slog through.

The sky above him was reddened like blood. To the east and west of his position, there were two round, thick red suns, bloating completely with their noxious gases of death. The pond he was sitting in was surrounded by black little wisps of grass, except grass was green on earth, and this strange species was clearly a different kind of race. He couldn't see past the stalks, but somehow he didn't have to, knowing that beyond the murky blades there would be a sprawling, cracked land of red dirt and scattered towns, centered around the Dark Forest in which hid the one sacred thing this land held: the Kingdom of Death, the home of the Dark Castle, where the King of the Underworld resided.

Garmadon pushed his way through the tar pit towards the nearest edge, gasping for air as he went. It seemed like the condensed asphalt had clogged his lungs. It was harder for him to breathe than usual.

After many moments of strain, he finally reached the surface of the dry ground, clasping his hands to the sweet earth. He hauled himself over the side. It almost frightened him when his departure with the macadam made a sucking sound. _Disgusting. _Garmadon gazed around him at the blackened wheat field that extended for miles past the pond. As far as he could see, there was the wheat that almost sliced him open when he moved past its unusually sharp edges.

Garmadon's fall had been extremely horrifying. He was surprised an old man like him didn't undergo a heart attack with the amount of adrenaline sailing through him, the air rushing towards his face, the rise of his heartbeat past the advised rate. He'd been staring death in the eye, seeing the Overlord's true form—the creature he'd put his _trust _in!—for the first time. That had already been giving him a scare worthwhile, but with the sudden split of the earth underneath his feet, Garmadon should've died from traumatic stress levels as he plummeted.

He was in the Underworld _because _of that crack. He knew it was the Earth Ninja's fault, but was it his _intention _to send Garmadon here? If so, why? Were they banishing him to the Kingdom of Death once more?

He reached his hand up to rub the gunk made of who-knows-what when he noticed the way his hands no longer were their usual pale white. He held them in front of his face, scrutinizing the pitch black soot rubbed over his skin, hardened like a second layer. _What is the meaning of this?_ thought Garmadon, scrubbing his hand against the hard matter up and down his arms. It covered his whole _body! _With a start, Garmadon realized that he could've looked exactly like his old evil self. He'd landed in that bucket of thick, fluidic rubber and ended up coming to life as a less evil duplicate of himself.

_Wonderful, _he thought grimly. _This will take forever to remove. _Garmadon began weaving through the yarn strings of thin wheat, cursing when they slit his skin. What was he to do now? The Ninja had destined him back into hell, leaving him with nothing to do, maybe except a false alter ego to sport in order to gain him some kind of respect. If he looked like his old self, perhaps he could get away with a few choice words and commands to the thankfully dimwitted creatures who lived in the Underworld. He knew his way around like an expert—after all, he _had _spent the majority of his late forties and complete fifties in this place—enough to tell him that he needed to run in the direction north of him that had no sun. The Kingdom of Death rested underneath the central point, which could also be described as the center of the suns' eclipse. When the suns moved across the sky every midday, they collided, their surpassing actually a pinpointing map as to where the Dark Castle lived.

He knew he'd find shelter there. Shortly after Garmadon fell into the Underworld, he'd taken up a high rank in social class here. Eventually, Elathan had called upon him and his evil domestics to train his youngest son, Noel, the arts of being a villain. Garmadon had already studied and invented ways to completely dominate a continent; he'd figured teaching someone how to dominate a realm was no different. Noel had been a pleasant child to work with, a better student than Garmadon had expected of such a young person. He hoped that, with his return, Noel could provide him with some kind of shelter. He _did _owe the previous evil lord enough to last him his lifetime.

The pinpoint of the castle was far off in the distance. It would take Garmadon _days _to reach it.

Oh, those stupid Ninja; why had they sent him here again? He would've rather liked to be clamped into the Overlord's claws over being stuck here to wilt and die again. There was no life for him here, especially with the evil inside of him gone. What use was it to live in this place if you didn't agree with the policies? Why, those Ninja surely would get a discipline when Garmadon returned…He _did _remember the location of the portal that transported him home the first time, after all. If Noel would supply him with a horse or possibly even a centaur companion, then Garmadon could be in Ninjago within just a few days, no more than a week. It would be a practical way to get home, get out, and—

Oh, _no. _

How had he forgotten?

Garmadon's breath was knocked out of his already-condensed lungs. He had to adopt an akimbo position just to keep himself partially upright. How had he forgotten what Eloquim had told him? When he'd been sitting here fantasizing about the luxuries that Noel could give him, how had Garmadon forgotten that his _own _son was stuck here somewhere?

And he could be _anywhere. _The Underworld was extremely large and paid no mercy to anyone. And the _scenarios _that could've already _taken _his son! Lloyd could've been stuck in the same bog as he was; maybe this time, he hadn't made it out. Maybe Lloyd had starved to death in a desert. Maybe Lloyd had accidentally come across a group of angry minotaurs and gotten himself slaughtered. Maybe Lloyd had eaten a poison fruit. Or worse: _maybe Lloyd had met Noel. _Oh, stars. Please let Lloyd have not met Noel! However much Garmadon may have liked the kid, he was no good, always up to something with tricks up his sleeve. If Lloyd had met Noel, it meant that there was nothing hopeful for him in the future.

He couldn't let his son endanger himself that way. Picking up his pace, Garmadon soon broke into a full sprint with desperation in his gate. His son was somewhere in this ravenous under-realm, and he was more determined than any father alive to find him soon. If he didn't…Garmadon didn't want to think about the awful situations that could lead to some tragedy affecting Lloyd.

The razor wheat slashed his tar-painted legs as he ran.

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**Thanks to HersheyChocolates101 for giving me the idea for Garmadon "spray-painting" himself black to look like the old Garmadon. That was a really awesome idea, and I thank you BUNCHES for it! :D**

**Please review!**


	30. Chapter 29: Eye See You

_29. Eye See You_

UM, _OW. _

Seiko's heavy lids lifted. Her brain was doing that dumb thing it did after a heavy sleep when it hummed faintly as it rebooted. It made it difficult for her to actually PERCEIVE the world around her, 'cause it was just being slow and irritating already. Her eyes adjusted to the dim sunlight filtering through scraggly, crooked tree limbs hanging over her head. The heavy weight of heat kept her comfortably warm while nestled into the crook of this tree's overgrown roots. They literally poked at least six feet out of the ground. Big, fat roots made similar arches, like a serpent weaving in and out of the white-grassed earth. Though the roots looked rotting and dead, it was kind of pretty to look at. It was like one of the wonders of the world she wouldn't be able to see.

Seiko found that she was cocooned safely in this small, comfortable corner of the root corral where nothing seemed to be able to reach her. _How did I even get here? _she thought, tensing up when she realized that she was still wearing that _godawful _burgundy dress of Lameo's. That's the point in time when last night came rushing back at her head faster than a bullet smacking ex-convicts in the forehead during violent drug busts.

Noel had passed her a dapplejuno, succulent with taste and feelings that made her feel dizzily calm on the inside. She'd tasted the fruit she'd been yearning for _finally, _only to have it be poisoned by some dickwad who figured it was okay to inject his guests with date-rape drugs. Oh, man, when Seiko got her hands on him, he would end up just like the nurses she'd killed back at Sunnyside. He was _sooooo _dead. She could contain her anger solely because of the fact that her brain was still getting used to the daylight, which was scorching her poor irises completely wrongly. She touched the coarse, chiseled bark of the million-mile-round tree she'd slept by all night. Wow. Who knew trees had such detail engraved into their outer layer?

Then, Seiko realized something.

She could _see. _

Seiko sat up quicker than a rabbit ran from a fox. Her head felt completely intoxicated after she did so, but the effort was worth it. Seiko could actually _see. _She could _see _the tree that surrounded her, could see the white grass underneath her body, could see the broken, dead tree arms above her, and the sky light that was burning her eyes. Her heart began to pound excitedly as she got to her feet, still clad in combat boots, to do a complete spin of inventory. She saw the mysterious way the dark forest stood humbly over her body. It looked almost secluded, used to being alone, yet with a well-worn path of dirt scuffed into the ground in front of her tree. The way it sat alone, surrounded by a bunch of tiny, crap trees made it look like it was an _important _fat tree. Seiko regarded it with her new eyes in a miracle. _Her _tree was ridiculously round. She wouldn't have been able to fit her arms around it even if she wanted to. In comparison to the _other _anorexic trees around it, it was just that overweight. She felt fragile compared to it.

Why did all the trees look so dead? And how did she suddenly get her sight back? Not that Seiko was complaining—she missed being able to see things. She reached forward to skim her fingers across the tree's bark again. She could clearly hear the chip of her fingertips across its surface, like she had her ear pressed against the wood to listen. Tiny ants that would've been before nonexistent explored the acreage's new terrain. Seiko was startled at how easily she could pick out their teensy forms from a distance. In fact…the way her fingers felt the tree was different, too. Every divot, every blemish of its façade was picked up along the track of her finger's path. The soft wind brushing against her bare arms, stirring her hair, tickled her skin in sensations she'd never imagined before. Whereas her blindness left her other emotions larger, they seemed to have _evolved _when she got back her sight. Seiko had always had 20/20 vision, but the perception of it now was different. Every light figment was being picked up by her pupils. The way it shifted, the way more light filtered through the tree limbs by passing seconds, that was all completely above normal. How was it that was possible?

How was _any _of this possible? Ninjas, okay, that was slightly believable when it came to realism. Seiko had accepted the fact that Cole thought he could be a ninja-vampire hybrid when truthfully, the thought of ninjas made her want to laugh. Ninjas only existed when you were referring to some lame-ass move you'd pulled to sarcastically describe your fail. She hadn't actually thought he was _serious. _She'd kind of thought, when describing his friends, that he was in some kind of cult that thought they were ninjas or something. But she'd been proven wrong the day that she slaughtered seventeen people at Sunnyside. The day that "Prince," as he called himself, appeared.

He'd told her she was going to a better place. Or, well, something to that effect. Seiko couldn't remember the _exact _promise he'd made, but it was one that had to do with getting her out of that asylum, and she would've done anything as long as she was released. Prince had been a relatively handsome guy, except his bright, neon green eyes could be slightly overbearing when she looked at them. His dark brown hair with the spiky style had been a little much, but if Seiko had the time to stargaze, she'd say he was probably the most beautiful boy she'd ever seen. And guys weren't _beautiful, _either, but he'd had something to him that she liked. He'd looked impulsively risky. Daring. Sexy. All three traits that she found appealing. And plus, she'd been completely devastated that she'd just unwillingly killed eight nurses and nine security guards, so inclination to leave was pret-ty high at that point. Prince had somehow used a magic trick to influence Fat Charley, the "super-attendant" (he wasn't so super) of Sunnyside, to pretend this never happened and blame _himself _for the murder if asked where the dead people were. Prince's magical power to do so was just like Cole's Compulsion ability, the eyes and _everything. _And then…Prince had stabbed her with a needle, and Seiko had passed out cold.

When Seiko had woken up, she was in for more of a shocker than just living proof of Ninjas. There were freaking _snakes, _life-sized, talking, conversing, and interacting like humans. That just didn't happen, but somehow, it wasn't just some freaky dream. She had been in a comatose daze. It was something of a mess of her brain, overworking, broken, her own thoughts useless. As much as she wanted to get away from the overwhelming fog eclipsing her waking brain, Seiko had fought that girl, had attacked her, to be intercepted by her brother. The whole time, this process was involuntary. She hadn't _wanted _to, but some entity in her mind was taking over her thoughts, _telling _her to fight them, _forcing _her to kill them, too. The last time she'd seen her brother, he was a twerpy fourteen year old. She recognized him easily because of his similar eye shade, but she'd never seen him that way before. Grown, tall, strong, fit, and so, well, _ninja. _Everything about Cole poured maturity and strength. Seiko had wanted to stop running, stop fighting with them, but fighting this weird impulse in her brain was hard. She moved without controlling herself, ran without controlling herself, attacked. It wasn't _Seiko's _plan at all. It was a weird entity overtaking her mind. It scared her because she was no longer in control of herself. She'd been… To her horror, she'd been _insane. _

Then, she'd seen Prince, and all that she could think beyond that was that he would protect her. He would keep her safe if she just stayed by his side. When she'd hidden behind him, Seiko had this overwhelming feeling that he would make sure nothing bad ever happened to her, and it was only dignified when she was near him. It was ridiculous.

But then, she hadn't thought so at the time. "Prince" soon became "Kai" when someone called him by that name, which made Seiko confused. Cole had told her days beforehand, on the phone, that same name, speaking of it in a context that seemed to imply they were friends. In the temple, they'd just looked like enemies, especially when the girl stabbed him. Seiko had been captured by Kai's evil trance.

But then she'd met crystalline blue eyes across the room, and had felt something within her shift. Of all people, you wouldn't think that Twinkies would bring her back from doomsday within, but something in his eyes had made Seiko believe…something. She couldn't remember now, but it was something that made her feel confident, and good.

Yeah. She was blown away too. It was _Twinkies _she was talking about here.

What the point is, Ninjas had been slightly believable before Seiko had gotten dragged into this. But then, there were additives of demons and those snakes and magic maps and powers that made people stab themselves and hit themselves and take over brains that just had _not _been clinically possible beforehand. She was overwhelmed with unrealism. Being thrown into hell was probably the most bizarre. More than once, Seiko had considered that maybe she was in an isolation cell at Sunnyside and really wasn't experiencing this at all. Her insanity _possibly _could be catching up with her.

But Seiko wasn't insane. She knew that better than anyone. She was completely sane, just with odd tweaks that she swore were _never _induced by her. She'd be fine one second, ravenous the next, and for no reason whatsoever. She was naturally a stable person. That outbreak came from nowhere—and nowhere was _not _from her. They were from some kind of weird…defectual issue. There was _no way _that Seiko was making that happen herself.

Then she goes blind and magically gets her sight back, like the gods who took it decided that 20/20 wasn't good enough. Fine by her; it just meant she was able to _see _again. Seiko insatiably ran her hands over the tree again, taking in the tiny details of moss wedged into its crevices, enjoying the fact that she could freaking _see! _Her sight was back!

Overjoyed, Seiko laughed into the cold, empty forest, and heard a whisper.

She didn't hear it with her ears. She heard it with her _mind. _Whirling, Seiko inhaled the scene immediately around her, scouring the darkened forest with quick eyes. She was alone. She had no clue how she'd _gotten _here, but whatever had made the noise wasn't there. Her ears…they hadn't…they hadn't picked it up, but it sounded like…almost like _she _had thought it. But that was ridiculous. Why would Seiko do that?

She kept her guard on, because that's just how she was. Bracing her combat boots against the white grass, Seiko listened hard for indication that someone was there. But she heard nothing.

At least, not with her ears.

The whisper flitted across her mind like a child running down the hall. It was on one side one second, at the other the next. Chills ran up her spine. Something was infecting her mind. There was something out there. Something she couldn't _see…_

_You're not alone. _

Seiko couldn't ease the thought from her mind. Standing taller and glad she had her sight back, she set aside her excitement to once more scan the path in front of her with her new and improved eyes. She couldn't hear any signs of anyone coming. Vaguely, she wondered where Twinkies was, but her heart pounded so hard that it drowned out her thoughts.

_You know that I'm here. You just need to let me free._

The voice in her head made her jump. She didn't know whose voice it was. It certainly wasn't familiar. Seiko whirled around to face the tree—like _that _thing was talking to her—with her guard completely up now. There was _definitely _someone here, someone listening, someone _not welcome. _

"This isn't funny," she meant to say, but it came out squeaky. _Oh, come on, Seiko, _she thought angrily. _You can do way better than that! What, you gonna let some telepathic tree get the best of you? _

_I'm not a tree. _

Seiko whirled. The path was empty. The voice was so generic, it was impossible to discern whether or not it was a male or female. She bent to pick up a stick lying on the ground, slowly moving as if not to startle something, although whatever it was be deemed _invisible. _Seiko clutched it with her hands covered by the lacy, fingerless gloves she'd had on when she'd eaten that poisoned dapplejuno like Snow White.

_I am a part of you, Seiko. You can't hurt me._

Seiko's gaze shifted. How was she supposed to respond? Aloud, she growled, "Whoever you are, you need to come out, so I can beat your face in with my stick, you rotten creep."

Not the best comeback she could've come up with, but it came with slowed time management.

_If you wish to see me, you must remove the glove on your right hand and look me in the eye. _

"The—what are you even talking about?" Seiko half-laughed, about to cackle her way out of this one. She wasn't very frightened by this thing trying to be intimidating.

_I wish not to be intimidating. I wish for you to see me. Do it, Seiko. Raise the glove and look at me. _

"What, the back of my hand? I suppose you're an ant?" She asked aloud. She relaxed, swinging the stick comfortably in a circle. She was no longer on edge. Instead, she was acting as though she were talking to herself. It wasn't really a big deal anymore.

_This is no joke. I would advise that you look at me._

"Uh-huh."

_Look, _insisted the voice. Seiko rolled her eyes and returned back to her nook against the lovely, fat tree. _Do not make me use force. _

"Ha! Whaddya gonna do, bite me?"

_I could always make you do worse. _Seiko reached for the tree again, but this time, her hand detoured. She watched in shock as her hand turned towards her right, against her will, without a command from herself. She thought multiple times to stop. Somehow, it was happening again; her mind was being controlled by whatever was watching her from beyond. There was no way for the Mitsuhide to struggle against the force somehow moving her shaking hand to the clasp of her lacy glove against her wrist. She unclasped the button keeping it tight against her pale arm.

Seiko's fingers were shaking as she slowly pulled off the lace. Nothing seemed abnormal about her hand, as this unknown entity was telling her to observe. Tearing away the lace, Seiko's gaze trailed up the smooth, small form of her wrist, dragging her gaze up the vein track towards the back of her hand, dangling in the air in front of her to where she couldn't move it. She blinked slowly, once. Twice. _What the—? _

Seiko looked at the big red eye on the back of her hand, and screamed.

* * *

**So, can I ask you guys a question? ^^ How are you guys feeling about Seiko? Please tell me in a review! And go make this the BEST day ever!**


	31. 30: Eloquim the Deadly-Everything After

_30. Eloquim the Deadly and Everything After_

ELOQUIM WAS MARVELING at how easily his band of minions had captured the Ninja into captivity—while still noting how the vampire had hit the redhead in the face, sending her downwards with a broken nose—when he was hit with _it_.

A sharp pain spread through his brain, paralyzing him into a hunched stupor as he grabbed his skull with one hand. It felt as though he had gunshots being sent out inside of his head, had knives being driven straight into the tissue of his brain, disrupting the previous content peace of his mind. He bent over with the Mega Weapon still clutched in one hand, feeling the supernovas behind his eyes begin their powerful transformation into images. The picture of Noel flitted through his mind, the boy's body enveloped in a ring of blood red magic. A look of pleasurous surprise masked his face. The boy was beginning to the Transition. It meant that what Caroline had said now had backup to the theory. Noel had killed the girl, as Eloquim had advised due to her immense inner power, bringing him closer to becoming the Ultimate Heir by the liter of power he sucked from her death. The boy's body began to change, his face becoming more distorted, his eyes burning a brighter green than Eloquim had ever witnessed. He would have laughed if he wasn't currently undergoing a serious explosion of pain within himself. These visions were never gentle, and always lengthy. Why ever it had chosen to occur _now, _it had plenty things that his seventh sense wanted to tell him. _Good, _he barely thought, _the more knowledge, the better…_

The image of Noel soon died away, leaving him with the face of Lloyd Garmadon to replace him. The boy was shuffling through a grove of awful, murder-ridden trees, flattened white grass beneath his foot. His face in which was normally impassive also carried a slick sheen of sweat and fear, a crazed glitch in his once-blue eyes. Instead of the pure, limpid sapphire irises that once looked, they were replaced with eyes the color of a faded orange. By every second, that orange was morphing closer and closer into the color of blood. _So, _Eloquim thought, watching with his mind's eye as Lloyd shuffled across the ground, horrified. _He was injected with my sent of Devourer's venom, after all. It's nice to know the Mega Weapon can send things quicker than FedEx into another dimension. _Lloyd held onto a mangled, rotten tree with his spider-formation hands. He was trying to _fight _the evils within. Too bad that he wasn't strong enough, not with his fellow ninja standing across the dirt before Eloquim, parted from him by more than just the earth beneath their feet. Lloyd would no longer be a threat to Eloquim after this. He could have smiled at the bittersweet taste of winning.

The image disappeared to reveal _Garmadon, _of all people, waltzing through a field of razor wheat in a running fashion. His eyes, distraught and abysmal, betrayed the fear he held within for his son. _He made it to the under-realm, _Eloquim processed. _That Ninja actually knew what he was doing, after all. How surprising. _

Eloquim readied himself for the next part of the vision, but found that he wasn't prepared for the sight of the girl he'd commanded Noel to _kill _standing as though she'd never died. Taken aback, he watched he recoil from a mark painted across the back of her hand, watched her try to somehow rid herself of its company by dragging it across the bark of a giant, dead tree, scraping her hand bloody, although the mark of the Eye never disappeared. She screamed repeatedly, tears running down her young, pale face. That was when Eloquim noticed she did not look like the same child she had before. No, she was completely different, he noted curiously. Her skin, wherein before had been a shade of cream, was now degraded into a sheen so white it was the color of snow. Her gray eyes had become a bright cobalt instead, giving her a very familiar color that Eloquim couldn't name in the midst of the vision. Her lips were the color of blood, unpainted by lip stain, but rather a natural color instead. And her hair, before a raven, seemed _deeper _than the night itself.

The Eye on her hand was green, opposition to Lloyd's red one. Eloquim's curiosity peaked. How had she risen from the dead? Was she not supposed to be deceased? Of course, she should have been; Noel had begun his Transition because of her death. How had she returned? He searched, in her image, for an answer, her gaudy wine-red dress swirling around her like flower petals, her combat boots crunching hard against the white grass. Her whole body could've blended into the lawn beneath her feet if she laid on it; she was the exact same color. Did blood no longer run through her veins? Eloquim had more questions than he did answers, a situation he never enjoyed. He thought with great difficulty the reasons for her changes in appearance, and why the colors that struck her facial features now were so significant to him, and why she'd returned from the dead when he _knew _that Noel had committed her murder. How? How? _HOW?_

The seventh sense was always his life-saver. He looked to her red lips, her blue eyes, her white skin and black hair once more before it informed him. _She acquires the colors of the Ninja, _he thought greedily. _That girl has the colors of the Ninja, including that wretched Lloyd. Why? Did they somehow revivify her? How has she—_

_She is made of them, _whispered his thoughts. _They are a part of her now. _

_But WHY?!_

_Because she is part of everything. She has become the Yin of the Yang. Her power is immense, and her ability has extended. Her death was much needed for her to become the great being she is now, although she's too stupid to understand it. Don't you see, Eloquim? _He thought to himself, watching her graceful, balanced movements, actions he was sure she would never have mastered before her death. _The girl has become part of the prophecy. If she were to be on your side, then you would have a better chance of finally destroying these Ninja and taking over all of Ninjago—including the Dark Island. She is the only one who can truthfully own that island, you nitwit! She is the Yin! _

_The dark side, _Eloquim thought slowly. _And little Lloyd Garmadon is the Yang._

_Precisely. She is your biggest enemy now. You _must _find a way to acquire her into your possession. Lloyd Garmadon was capable of doing good, remember? He was the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master, the kid who destroyed the Dark Lord, who defeated Garmadon and the Overlord combined. He was the one who saved Ninjago._

_So that means…she is the one who can _destroy _it! _Eloquim felt a burst of productivity flow through him. Excitement became him. If the seventh sense within him was true, and Lloyd was the Yang, then the Yin would have every possibility of disrupting the peace. This girl could control the Dark Island. She could bring all of the horrors Garmadon had never unlocked there to life, could finally turn Eloquim into the better ruler. She was capable of ruining it.

_But what is she? _He thought. _She must be something for returning from the dead. I mean…the only way for her to have gotten that mark is if she died. That is the only way to obtain a Mind's Eye, isn't it? Lloyd Garmadon died, which gave him the ability to unlock his Eye, and he became the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master because of it. No one returns from the dead without being different. What on this devil's land has she become, then?_

He didn't know. He couldn't think of anything. Steeling himself for the decrescendo of the vision, it faded away with a hyper _bang _in his mind, disappearing with an explosion just as violent as it had when it had come. The ache in his mind soon became dull after the erosion of time. He could finally stand straighter; finally start to feel the Mega Weapon in his hand again. He felt its power almost immediately. He had to make a wish, one final wish for the day, that would keep these Ninja out of his way while he searched for the Shadow Key to open the Gate and bring that girl to him. He realized that perhaps the house of horrors behind him wouldn't be enough to keep the Ninja stationary. He _needed _that girl and her power if he wanted to completely destroy Ninjago once and for all. The only way to do so was with that Key, which could not be accomplished if these Ninja—if the Seven—were running around and stopping his escapades.

His talons wrapped tighter around the Mega Weapon's hilt. An idea sparkled in his mind. He knew, deep within himself, that if he wanted to get that Key, there would only be one option in keeping his opponents at bay. He had to do it, and with great pride he took in thinking deeply that if he wanted to keep his position in the world, he would have to do it knowing that he'd have no Ninja to defeat if there were never any Ninja to defeat in the _first_ place.

**COLE**

Caroline's nose crunched underneath his fist. He'd totally broken through the metal and shattered it.

He took a step back as she fell screaming. Good, good; all the better to have her dead with. Pythor made for him, reaching out his scaly hands to grab at the vampire's arm, but Jay was there before the snake could grab him. He kicked Pythor in the gut with an electrical shock. "Maybe now you'll have a _spark _of intuition and stop returning from the dead!" shouted couldn't help but grin.

He grabbed onto Caroline's throat and yanked her up, Gasping, the nindroid clutched his wrist with her hands, eyes bulging, sending ice crawling up his arm. He lifted his leg and jammed his knee into her stomach, which did kinda hurt, but made her hurt worse. He was damaging her equipment—with Zane standing off over there, and he'd feel guilty about it later, but for now, Cole needed to destroy this freaking robot once and for all.

"_No one _hurts _my _sister," growled Cole, and he grabbed her wrist with one hand. Caroline tried to freeze him there, too, but Cole deflected it by using his vampire strength to spin her wrist in the opposite direction. Her false flesh tore, her wrist jamming and actually _breaking; _he had induced a shattering of the machines holding her hands to her arm together. Caroline shrieked. "And _nobody _gets to break Zane's heart."

Caroline gasped quickly. Her bangs stood up straight in complete opposite directions, her hazel eyes too wide for her face. He was crushing her windpipe. Zane had told him, once, that oxygen kept the turbine-like machines in his chest working. The robots that Julien created could only not breathe for so long before those turbines stopped working, and so did their proper functions. He squeezed tighter while she gurgled out the breath she had. If Caroline died, the only thing that Cole would regret was the fact that Zane was standing there watching.

Over Caroline's shoulder, he observed Jay slamming Pythor's head into the car door. More snakes were starting to filter in, but he saw that Nya had grabbed her stick again and was using as much as she could against them. With Pythor unconscious, Jay whirled in Spinjitzu to help her fend them off. He just needed them to hold off a little longer while Cole killed Caroline.

"You think you could deceive us and get away with it?" He hissed in her face. His face was converting into the visible veins underneath his eyes, the fangs protruding, the eyes becoming solid. Caroline looked sick at the sight of him. Or maybe that was the fact that her head was going to pop off any second. "You were wrong," he concluded. He took her arm and jerked it outwards until he heard the electrical _snap _of something inside of her breaking. Proof existed when her arm dangled uselessly at her side. He'd pulled it out of its socket.

Caroline shrieked. He rammed her against the side of the dump truck ruthlessly. He commanded every ounce of strength within his body to come forth and witness the murder of this robot, to help him drive the killing. He would've bitten her if she wasn't made of metal.

"I—wanted—to—survive," Caroline gasped, frightened. She tried to wrench herself free. "I—knew—you—wouldn't—win."

Cole snarled in her face. "_Think again," _he hissed darkly, and prepared himself to kick her again, to slowly torture her to death before she was granted with its peace, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He half-expected to see Zane, protesting, but when he turned, he saw Zane helping the dazed Kai stand. The icy blue eyes were on Cole, lacking the pleading that the vampire thought he would've seen there, asking Cole not to do it because he still loved her. That's what Cole thought he would've seen, however instead, Zane almost imperceptibly nodded his head.

_Do it, _he was saying. He wanted Cole to kill Caroline.

Cole looked at the form behind him, feeling shock when he saw the black eyes looking back at him, almost innocently. Kiko's hand rested on his shoulder. Her eyes were on Caroline, her lips twisted into a smirk. "Allow me," she said to him, reaching without prodding to hold onto Caroline's face, like she was going to kiss her. But the kiss of a smile on Kiko's full lips grinned crazily, evilly. "I've been bossed around by this bitch way too many times to let this go." She cocked her head at Cole. "Pull her away from this stupid thing," she told him, "_please." _

Manners or not, Cole did so, pulling her away. He felt suspicious, but held onto Caroline's throat like she was his lifeline. Kiko rallied up behind the droid. "You're too cocky for your own good," she hissed into Caroline's ear. "And too jealous. I think you're a disgusting person."

Caroline shook her head pleadingly. She looked afraid, fearing the vampires ganged up on her. Holding tightly onto her, he watched Kiko grin crazily, a grin he now knew that Seiko had inherited from their supernatural connection. She slipped her hands onto the sides of Caroline's head tauntingly. "I can play commander in chief too," Kiko whispered menacingly. Cole watched the black eyes settle on the back of Caroline's head, who shook in his grasp. "And I command _you _to die—and _never _come back."

With a final battle cry, Kiko leaped into the air, suspending herself for a momentary second before using her gift of vampiric strength to rip the screaming Caroline's head completely off.

**ZANE**

She was gone.

He tried to feel awful, knowing that the girl he had loved was now in pieces, crumpling to the ground without a head, a broken arm, and damaged equipment inside. He just…_couldn't _make himself feel remorse over the fact that she was dead, but rather the fact that he had been stupid enough not to notice she no longer was in love with him the way he'd been in love with her. Kai leaned against him, his daze of Venomari venom gone and the fear of Christmas-related themes buried. Shaking his head to try and process everything, he looked to Zane for some kind of consolation. Zane couldn't give any. His brother, having watched Kiko rip of Caroline's head, looked traumatized. Zane didn't know what to do, whether to run over there and comfort Rikku, or to let him be. Clearly, their feud over Caroline had never rested inside of the elder Montgomery. He must still have had feelings for Caroline.

But their feud had never been over _Caroline. _It had been over _Carolyne, _the beautiful, boisterous girl she had been before she had died. Carolyne had died the first time, and when Caroline was born as a nindroid…she had turned into someone awful. Zane had been too in love with Carolyne to notice that she was gone.

It was better that way, he concluded, to have Carolyne dead than to have turned into _this _monster.

He mourned her, but didn't mourn Caroline. Wrapping an arm around Kai's shoulder, he steered his ninja brother closer to Cole, who stepped back from Caroline's dead body like it was poisoned. In a way, it was. It was tainted with Caroline's evil. Kai groaned loud enough for Cole to look at him, to look at Zane, and pour apologies with his eyes.

"I am not sorry," Zane answered him truthfully. "I am just sorry she was dark that way. But I am not sorry she is dead."

Cole looked disbelieving, but Zane would enforce it later. He turned to Kiko, who rubbed her hands together as if having crawled in the dirt for a grimy job. She met his eyes. "Thank you," he responded. She raised an eyebrow.

"Bitch was annoying," she settled. "I was going to do it anyway."

"But you're Team Evil," Kai slurred. He pulled away from Zane to try and stand upright. His eyes were missing the green fog, returned back to their chocolate brown of peace. He looked slightly confused. "Why would you kill someone else who is on Team Evil?"

Kiko's eyebrows shot up. She dusted off her orange robe. "_Ha, _right. Me? Team Evil? Ah, _nah." _She wagged her fingers. "Ain't happenin'. I'm more of a _neutral _character in this here war, Sleepy." She referred to Kai, adjusting the cuffs of her dress. Zane looked at Cole.

The Earth Ninja was staring at her in disbelief. His lips parted as he slowly shook his head, never taking his eyes off of the Original. "You sound _so much _like Seiko," he murmured. Kiko blinked.

"Duh. I _am _Seiko, and Seiko is _me." _Her black eyes darkened, if that was possible. "She branched her personality offa mine. Kinda convenient, isn't it, Sparkles?" She winked. Cole looked traumatized, stumbling back a step.

"Don't call me that," he choked. Tears formed in his eyes. "P-please."

Zane looked at him, startled. Cole was crying? He reached out a hand, but Cole shook his head, turning away to pinch the bridge of his nose. _Seiko is dead, _Zane remembered. _Cole must be_ _heartbroken_! He never knew Seiko, but it was obvious that Cole cared about his sister more than anything, like Kai often had with Nya. Speaking of Kai, the fire ninja looked lost. Zane chose to comfort his brother with a gentle hand on his shoulder, knowing that inside, somewhere Zane felt the same. "You will see her again," he promised softly. "Someday."

"If I die and go to heaven," Cole whispered. He couldn't speak any louder. "Which I doubt vampires do."

Zane opened his mouth, but his voice was drowned out by Jay's scream. He whirled to find the blue ninja jumping into the air, sparking to life. "JUST DIE ALREADY!" He screamed, his true potential glowing, exploding. He hurled balls of lightning at the snake army, which took out multiple at various times. Nya's small form stepped backwards, and that was when Zane noticed the wince on her face, her hand curled around her belly. He stared in fear.

"Nya!" Kai yelped, running towards her. Something was wrong. The fire ninja made it just in time for her to collapse into his arms, holding onto her bulging stomach with horror on her face.

"Kai, it hurts!" She cried. Cole whirled, tears on his face forgotten. There was only a brief second between his reaction and the gust of wind rushing past Zane, almost knocking him off his feet. He had to run at normal speed towards the vampire and Kai who held onto Nya in bewilderment.

Nya was sobbing. "Make it stop," she gasped, tears rolling down her cheeks. "It hurts so much! Make it stop! Pleeea-aasee," she sobbed, falling to the ground. Above them, Jay acknowledged her pain by sending plenty of electrical attacks at once towards the dwindling snake army. He slowly descended back to their side as the true potential faded away.

"Nya," he whispered. Supported against Kai's kneeling form, Nya panted with difficulty, her body sprawled out across the ground, tears streaking her face. She trembled vigorously. Kai clutched her closer with his face completely masked by horror, and fear, and worry; Cole knelt by her side but kept his hands in his lap when Jay grabbed onto her hand. "Nya! What's wrong?" he asked, knees digging into the dirt. Zane crouched down beside her. He heard the steps of his brother running up behind him. It was barely noticed that Eloquim had commanded the snake army to fall back, because all eyes were focused on Nya, who panted to violently, they were tiny gasps rather than full breaths. Kai clutched her closer.

"What's going on?" Kai asked. Rikku dropped to Zane's side, while Kiko wandered up behind Cole, her face inquiring and interested. Zane glanced into Cole's pale eyes and saw a flash of something:

The vampiric transition.

He covered his nose and leaped backwards at the same time, landing plenty of feet away. Zane jumped in startle. He hadn't expected it, but saw the way that Cole was fending off the fangs and protruding veins by the second. "Oh, God," he breathed, covering the lower half of his face. "Oh, _God." _

"WHAT?" Jay cried. "What's wrong, Cole?! Nyaaa?"

Cole could barely gasp out the words. His head shook, uncomprehending; his eyes bulged, too shocked to believe; his face transformed, proof that he could smell blood. Zane's posture straightened. "She…" Cole choked. He shook his head again. "She…mis…oh my God."

"WHAT!" Kai yelled. "Cole, what the _fu—" _

Nya shrieked. Tears returned to Cole's eyes. "Miscarry," he choked out before Nya released another wail of pain. "She's…mis…m-mis…"

"NO!" Jay grabbed onto his girlfriend, pulling her out of Kai's arms. Kai stared. Hell, they _all _stared, unable to understand. "Nya!" He whirled on Cole. "How do you know?" He demanded angrily. Cole covered his face.

"I can smell the blood," he whispered.

And then Zane saw it.

Eloquim's laughter filled the air, loud, ringing, echoing. He didn't sound satisfied, but amused, like people usually did when they laughed. Zane's eyes flickered to the short form standing atop Darkley's porch steps. The Overlord grabbed onto Darkley's building peak to watch, oddly silent throughout this whole thing, He held tightly with his claws digging into the wood and cement. It was a shock that he was even somehow back; Zane looked back to Eloquim as his laughter expired into words. "How convenient," he said loudly. "I'm rather shocked by this myself. Poor healthy thing. How _dreadful. _At least she won't have to live the rest of these nine months without one, though."

"What are you talking about, you crazy demonic freak?" Kai snarled when Jay couldn't, his face buried in pain into Nya's hair. He whispered inaudible comforts to her that Zane didn't eavesdrop on.

"Didn't you know?" Eloquim shifted the Mega weapon in his hands. "She's having twins! Of course, only the one is going to survive, but that's only because it's half-vampire. It will suffice, I suppose…"

"WHAT?" Cole whirled. Jay's head slowly raised. Zane felt like he wanted to smack his own face with his palm, then plug Jay's ears so he wouldn't have to hear this again. Twins…and one was a vampire. It didn't make sense.

"Well, yes," Eloquim answered. "She was impregnated by _both _of you. A strange case, indeed, but nonetheless exciting. Now you can have a little daughter, and Jay's son can die, Cole! Aren't you happy?"

Cole looked like he was punched in the gut. Zane didn't blame him. Everyone watched with growing confusion, horror, and brief understanding, lingering eyes waiting on Nya, who looked confused herself. Kai exchanged a glance with him. They, plus Cole, were the only two who knew what was going on.

"No," choked the vampire. "You're lying."

No one knew what to do, how to respond to it, but Eloquim seemed to be enjoying himself. His hooded head cocked. "I never lie," he announced into the thickened air. "Kai of all should know that."

Even Zane knew he was referring to the way that Kai had died. The fire ninja suppressed a shiver while facing him down with a glare. Nya gave a mangled cry, a symphony of pain pouring from her throat. Jay's baby, inside of Nya, was dying, but Cole's was living. Cole's was a half-vampire. Zane struggled to keep up with the new information. How was it possible that she had a baby from _each _of them? It didn't seem likely to ever have happened before. He reached forward to rub a hand over her belly, conspicuously avoiding Jay's eyes. He couldn't look at him. Didn't want to see what was there.

Nya cried again. Eloquim handled the Mega Weapon. What could they do? Zane was no better at knowing how to operate a miscarriage than Kai would if he were in the women's section of the department store. He could offer comfort, but it seemed not very promising. It wouldn't help Nya either way. Cole looked down at her mangled body, the blood pooling underneath her legs, the way that she looked like she were dead. Zane tried not to notice these things while Cole raked in the sight of her like this. It was too much to handle as someone _watching. _He could not imagine how much worse it was for the person going _through _it.

"It no longer matters," Eloquim announced loudly. "Because I have a wish."

"I wish you were dead!" Jay shouted. He was trying to keep his mind off of losing his baby _and _the Cole deal.

Eloquim ignored him. He raised the Mega Weapon over his head. "I wish," he yelled, like they were trying to capture the attention of all of Ninjago. Zane stood up protectively when he saw a dark form emerging from inside of Darkley's. it was a boy in an orange Ninja suit, looking at them with a swath of dark black hair hanging over his amused eyes. He smirked while crossing his arms over his chest. Zane thought that he looked familiar, but couldn't place a name to the face. He must've only seen him in passing, or something to that effect. Eloquim seemed not to notice the boy standing behind him. Calling into the air, Eloquim hollered, collecting the emotion pouring off of the Ninja. "I _wish _that I could erase the Ninjas' memories! I wish I could make it so the Ninja _never _knew each other, never became ninja, and forgot all about everything that has _ever _happened to them!"

"_NO!" _Jay, Cole, Zane, and Kai shouted at the same time. Kai sprung to his feet.

"I WISH THAT THE NINJA CANNOT REMEMBER WHO THEY ARE!" Eloquim yelled. The wind had begun to pick up, the sky becoming darker by clouds rolling in. "I wish the Ninja never met each other! I wish they were never _Ninja _in the first place!"

Horrified, Zane whirled, staring into his brothers' eyes with fear. Jay and Kai exchanged worried glances. The sky had begun to erupt in loud cracks of thunder, taking on a similar form of the storm that had possessed Kai, gotten Cole chucked overboard, and crashed the _Bounty _in the first place. Wind almost barreled them over. Cole raised his arms over his face to stop rocks plucked from the ground from flying towards him. Zane felt Rikku grab the collar of his shirt.

The storm above them swirled like a hurricane. "Kai!" shrieked Nya, reaching for her brother as something with the baby happened that Zane didn't want to look at. He dropped down beside his sister in a red heap.

"Nya!"

Zane looked at Cole, who dug his heels into the ground. There was green lightning darting across the sky above him. "Not again!" shouted the ninja of earth, while Zane felt a familiar scream bubble up into his throat.

"GREEEEEEEENNNNNNN!" He pointed. Kai, Jay, and Cole all snapped their heads backwards to stare into the sky. The sun's rays were blocked, covering the star up with its darkness. Eloquim's laughter curlicued in the air around Zane. It was carried by the rough winds, manipulated by mother nature's doing. Zane held up his hand as the winds pelted his face frighteningly.

"ZAANNE!" Cole cried. Zane blinked at him, confused, when he felt a huge bolt of electricity crash down on top of him, electrocuting him in warmth. He'd already felt that before; wonderful! He was being zapped _again. _Sparks of green enveloped him completely until there was a fog that consumed his mind; where was he again? He blinked, but wasn't quite getting what was happening. A smack of something pointy hit him in the back of the head, and the fog over Zane's mind completed.

He fell over into a deep sleep.

**JAY**

"ZAAANNNEEEE!"

The ominous screams of Cole, Kai, and Jay were drowned out by the zap of green electricity from above colliding with Cole's body. Like Zane, he was enveloped in a burst of lime power, hitting him in the back of the head. Jay felt horrified. "_NO!" _He shouted, reaching forward, but Nya shrieked into the air again. Oh, _Nya, _he thought, wrapping his arms tighter around her. Her screams didn't stop this time.

Cole dropped to the ground.

"NO!" Kai yelled, mimicking Jay. He fell to the ground beside his fallen brother. Blood trickled down the side of Cole's forehead. "Cole! Wake up! _Zane! Cole!" _

Desperation filled Jay. Nya screamed again. _What do I do?! _He thought, looking upwards at the sky. The lightning of leafy hues darted across the sea of clouds once more.

And then it came down, shock and all, into his face.

**KAI**

"JAY!" Kai reached forward. How could this be happening? Zane, Cole, and Jay had fallen away, had disappeared into sleep, taken by this monstrous storm now trying to attack him. Kai quickly darted out of the way to avoid being hit. Nya looked at him through her teary gaze, watching him, shaking her head. She was telling him _no. _He tried to stop himself from crying while looking at her when that same zap of electricity came down on her. Her whole body flinched when it struck. She completely fell away into sleep after it hit. How could this…_No! _Kai jumped to the side to avoid being struck, pushing away Kiko from Cole's body. _Creepy freaking vampire lady_, he thought, dancing around another shock. A ninja _never _admitted defeat. They couldn't be down so quickly. He looked at his sister, looked at his friends, looked at everything he was losing. He wouldn't go down without a fight. Turning to Eloquim, the fire inside burned brighter, summoning the lava-like power into his hand. "You're going _down!" _He yelled at the laughter of the Shadow Dancer. Kai moved to the side again.

"Don't fret, little Ninja!" He yelled. "It will all be over soon!"

"Not on my watch!" Kai dove to avoid being hit. _Jay, Cole, Zane, _he thought in pain. _Don't let me down, guys. Fight it! _He jumped over the crack in the earth, finding himself inches from the steps of Darkley's. He darted up them, taking two at a time, with lightning striking the stairs behind him. Eloquim only laughed. The boy at his side watched. Kai knew he'd seen that guy before, but whoever it was, he couldn't tell. He flipped onto the top platform before a strike of lightning hit him. "You can't take away everything!" He shouted impulsively, and darted for Eloquim.

The boy intervened, pushing him out of the way. Kai rolled just in time. _That was a close one, _he thought towards the retreating zap of lightning. He jumped to his feet and hurled a fireball at the orange kid. He dove, but Kai saw it coming. He hurled another.

The fireball caught the boy in the leg. He cried out. The injury gave Kai enough leeway to run towards the Shadow Dancer, holding out his determination, preparing for a blow. Eloquim swung the Mega Weapon like a sword, but Kai jumped over it. _Ninja never quit, _he heard Lloyd say in his head, and he grabbed onto the headdress of the weapon's magnificence.

Eloquim laughed. Attempting to yank Kai forward, the creature pulled, but Kai let go in time for a dodge of lightning. The creature growled angrily when he fell backwards. "You fool!" he shouted. "You cannot defeat me."

"But I can try." Kai grabbed onto the Mega Weapon in his hands. Eloquim yanked backwards. It had become a life-or-death game of tug-o-war. Kai jumped out of the way again. This lightning was persistent, always coming, never faltering. He moved again.

The boy stood to his feet, limping, but rallied a sweep of power into his hands. He flung it at Kai. The black ball of darkness collided with Darkley's wall when the fire ninja darted out of the way. Shooting off another fireball, Kai fought with the orange ninja in power, while also trying to fend off Eloquim's swings of the Mega Weapon. He was beginning to break a sweat.

A fireball caught the orange boy in his chest. He fell backwards. Kai took the opportunity as a change to turn back to Eloquim—knowing full well that the chances were starting to dim. He thought determinedly, _Ninja never quit! _and hurled himself at Eloquim.

Lightning cracked the ground where Kai had stood. Eloquim swung the weapon again, catching Kai in the side. The fire ninja showed no sign of pain—_ninjas never admit defeat, ninjas never admit defeat!—_when he took a swirl of Spinjitzu into Eloquim. The Shadow Dancer was tossed back against Darkley's brick wall.

Kai stopped, hearing before seeing the clatter of the Mega Weapon against the porch. Before Eloquim could really process it, Kai had jumped, swiping it off the ground at his clawed feet. _I got it! _He thought triumphantly, and aimed the headdress towards the crumpled villain afore him. Lightning cracked where Kai had last stood, and leering, the fire ninja growled down at the Dancer. "You killed me once," he thought, summoning the memories of Garmadon and the Devourer. "Now feel what it's like to be killed back!"

With a howl, Kai drove the point of the Mega Weapon into Eloquim's chest. The Shadow Dancer bayed when the gold pierced his heart. Blood poured out of the hilt like a volcano erupting. Kai dodged a strike of electricity while driving the weapon deeper into the enemy he so righteously hated.

Kai drove his foot into Eloquim's head, kicked him hard in the throat. The Dancer wailed in pain. He bled from four different places. And, while Kai was at it, he grabbed onto Eloquim's head viciously. "You took everyone I love from me. You killed me, you banished my best friend, and caused me a lot of pain. But know this, you filthy piece of crap: You could _never _have won," he whispered into Eloquim's face, still hidden underneath the cloak, but green eyes burning underneath the shadow.

With blood running down his own face, his heart thundering, grief powering his anger within, Kai held tightly onto Eloquim's head, and twisted.

_Snap. _

Eloquim's body fell limp.

He was dead.

…

The storm began to fade. Echoes and whispers of what had been done were there, but inaudibly they stayed; soon, the sky was no longer covered with brutal thunder but rather with cloudless ease and bright sunlight. Birds flew across the sky hesitantly. They were afraid that somehow, the storm would return and attack them. Soon, they found out that it was a petty fear. Whatever darkness had occurred before now died along with the Shadow Dancer, crumpled against the towering school for bad boys. Minutes after his death, the creature started to disintegrate into dust. Negative effects of his reign purged, including the return of the Overlord, who, with a loud scream, fell spiraling from the zenith of the school's crest. Before he reached the ground, he fell into ash along with the façade the Dancer had created in order to keep him alive. The enemies that seemed to return from the dead were bound by Eloquim's life, bound by his magic. Without him, they died, too: Pythor's crushed body soon ebbed away with the gentle winds; Kiko Maya had taken off the instant that Eloquim died, and whether or not she would die was a mystery; the snake army crumbled just as easily as crushed crackers. It left four bodies, a fearful robotic brother, a dead nindroid, and a triumphant fire ninja left on Darkley's campus. Authorities in the nearest town immediately were alerted of the phenomena and pulled into Darkley's property just in time for the fire ninja to descend the steps. He was covered in black fluid: Eloquim's blood. But there was the ghost of a smile on his face.

He had won.

A police officer jumped out of his cruiser, taking in the scene slowly. "What happened here?" He barked, then to another officer: "Get meds! We have a scene, here! There are bodies!"

"They're not dead," said the fire ninja, slowly walking up. He felt tired, heavy, and worst of all, afraid that the negative effects of Eloquim's power didn't change with his death on his friends. He looked to the four of them, all fallen beside each other, then at the robotic brother. Rikku looked at him with a respectful gleam in his eye. "They're just napping."

"What happened to _you?" _snapped the officer. He walked up to the fire ninja.

Kai smiled at him. "I just defeated a guy who planned on destroying Ninjago City," he told him, watching the furrow of the officer's bushy eyebrows. "He's up there, but he's in ashes, so I don't think you'll have much fun with that. Oh, and there's this evil mock-ninja-kid who thinks he's cool." He nodded towards the orange-clad boy, huddled beside Eloquim's ashes in fear. "You might wanna arrest him. He tried to kill me."

"Is that…a robot?" asked another officer, kneeling beside Caroline. He moved her head, gloves stretched over his hands, to examine the intricate wiring underneath her broken throat.

"Yup. But she's evil, so be careful," Kai warned. He turned without another word back to his friends. He knelt beside Nya, feeling sad and worried about his little sister, her head rested against Jay's lap in sleep. He stroked her cheek. "She needs a medic," he told the officer, "_pronto." _He held tightly onto her hand, even after the medics had grabbed her and hauled her onto a stretcher. He told them about her miscarriage, leaving out the details about the half-vampire baby. It was imperative that they _be careful, _he commanded, and as they hauled her into the back of an ambulance, he heard someone call his name.

He turned, seeing the white form of Julien running into Darkley's campus. "Kai!" He called. "Kai! I'm so glad I found you!" He skirted closer to the bodies, but didn't acknowledge them. Kai thought he looked a little off, his glasses askew, his brain malfunctioning or something, but listened. "I came to warn you about Caroline and her minions, but I guess you already took care of that." Julien looked a little _too _happy to be there. Kai patted the old man's shoulder.

"Yeah," he said, and turned to the nearest paramedic. "Hey! Can we get them to Ninjago City Hospital?" He asked, pointing towards Jay, Cole, and Zane. He worried about Cole being taken to one, but figured it would be weird if he asked for Cole to be left out. He wrapped his arm encouragingly in a wave for Rikku to come to his side. "I want to make sure my brothers are okay."

**MANY hours later**

"They'll be just fine," said Dr. Andi, putting his pen back into the pocket of his coat. The slick white walls of the hospital was creeping Kai out. He didn't really usually see something so blank and clean before. The young doctor pushed his roster underneath his arm to put his hand reassuringly on Kai's shoulder. "And we're still trying to find out about how your sister even had two separate babies inside of her that weren't of the same cell, but she did lose a son."

Kai bowed his head. He felt horrible for the love triangle that seemed to always involve his sister. This would break her heart. "And the other?" He pressed hopefully.

Dr. Andi gave him a soft smile. _I know what I'm doing, _it said of Kai's speculative attitude. He felt his cheeks warm, embarrassed. "The other is a healthy baby girl," he told the anxious brother. He checked his chart for something, speculating. "Your friend, though. Cole," he gave Kai a weary look. "Something about him doesn't seem right. We can't find a definite blood type—"

Kai couldn't help it. He laughed. The doctors had been constantly obsessing over finding out why Cole didn't have a blood type. It had taken seventeen nurses, six separate doctors, and a veteran to try and process why, but Cole had pretty much knocked out the whole building in stupor—and he wasn't even awake. Kai couldn't wait to tell him about it when he woke up.

"Tell me about the others," he chuckled. The doctor stared at him, startled. "Jay and Zane."

Dr. Andi shook his head to wave off Kai completely. "They're fine as well," he answered, "although it appears your friend Jay was stabbed, previously. His wounds are healing fine, but I don't remember admitting a Jay Walker into our building. Was he taken somewhere else?"

Kai blinked. _Yeah. The Dani Foundation. _"Kind of," he answered vaguely. Dr. Andi raised a brow.

"Zane has a broken pinky, but he'll survive," he finished, sliding his roster back underneath his arm. "Now, the costs for the hospitalization and checkups immense, but—"

"We're paying for it," said a smooth voice. Kai turned to see Lou and Ed returning from the cafeteria, a bag of donuts in hand, catered especially for Kai, Julien, Edna, and Rikku, who didn't actually eat. Kai gave Ed a soft smile of thanks at the Styrofoam coffee cup he handed him. It felt great to swallow. Coffee was really all that was keeping him going.

Lou sat down beside Rikku in a plastic, blue chair, passing him the donut bag. "I _do _remember saying I was paying out of my savings' account earlier," continued the Royal Blacksmith irritably. "Are you deaf?"

Dr. Andi's brows furrowed over his blue eyes again. "Um, no, but—"

"Then I think we should stop talking about the subject until the total cost is determined," Lou answered, popping a chunk of donut into his mouth. He chewed slowly with a challenging gleam in his eye. Dr. Andi looked uncomfortable. "My son deserves the best of treatments. And quit sticking needles in him, will you? It's weird."

Edna giggled, putting a hand over her mouth to cover up the laughter. Ed plucked a chocolate-covered donut from the bag. He winked at Kai over a bite. Lou and the doctors had been going round-and-round all evening about what kind of treatment Cole was receiving. Knowing about his son's vampirism, he kept demanding that there be no needles injected into him and that the doctors should just let Cole heal on his own, but the staff here was persistent. Kai turned back to Dr. Andi with a smirk on his face. "I would probably ask the same thing," he said. "When can we go see them?"

Dr. Andi looked flustered. He blinked slowly, repeatedly, before answering. "Well…an hour, I suppose," he replied.

"Great! Now be gone with you," Lou waved his hand. "Your unmanly soprano voice is giving me a headache."

Edna smacked him in the arm, but she was fighting laughter. Kai looked back at Dr. Andi. "Thanks, for everything," he said politely. The doctor retreated down the hallway with a stunned expression.

Rikku handed him the donut bag—the robot wasn't going to take any himself—and looked down the hallway. His face betrayed nothing. "I strictly remember Father stating his return would have occurred at least two-point-four minutes ago. Shouldn't he have returned by now?" He asked. Julien had gone to the bathroom at least fifteen minutes ago. Now that Rikku mentioned it, Kai was getting a little worried, too; was the crazy guy okay? Without another word, Rikku rose, taking him down the hallway in a slow, steady pace in the direction of the restrooms. Kai watched him go with a look on his face, biting into his own donut. He hadn't eaten all day.

"He's weird," Lou said aloud. "He talks funny."

Kai smiled. He'd heard that one before. "What's weird, Lou?" He asked, giving the Royal Blacksmith a sly look out the corner of his eyes. "The fact that he's different, or the fact that he's different than _you?" _

The robots that Julien had made—Sensei, Leo Waters, Sylver, and the rest—had disappeared. Kai had no idea where they would've disappeared to, but he wasn't worried about it right now. Odds are, the green powers that had taken over their minds would be gone by now, since Eloquim had been dead for a long time. He took a drink of his coffee and stared down the opposite end of the hall that Dr. Andi had retreated to. He had so many things on his mind.

Lloyd was still in the Underworld. Somehow, Kai had to get him back. He wouldn't stop until he found where Lloyd was hiding. It wouldn't matter to him if he had to use some kind of magic witchcraft to bring him back. Lloyd had to come home, and _soon; _he needed to see that Kai had defeated Eloquim, and Ninjago was in peace once again. Lloyd _had _to see that. It would make him feel much better when he saw that his dead friends had come back to life. He needed to come home.

But for now, Kai had to focus on making sure that those friends were okay. He took another drink of coffee. He had time to save Lloyd, plenty with Eloquim dead and the search for the Shadow Key over. If he knew anything, it was that the little guy toughed out a lot of things. He'd have no problem waiting just a few more hours for everyone to be released from the hospital's bed-ridden consequences.

He fingered the red backpack at his feet. That was where he'd hidden the Shadow map. And he planned on putting it somewhere no one would _ever _find it, not for another million centuries.

Kai and Lou stared at the T.V, pouring nonsense about the battle that almost demolished Darkley's, as well as the death of Gayle Gossip. The cameras wouldn't show the footage, but they said that the cameraman had been able to _film _Kiko Maya slaughtering the reporter, and whoever caught sight of the crazed Original Vampire needed to call the designated hotline immediately. Kai sighed. He hated that she'd done so, but he didn't think Kiko was a threat anymore. What she'd said before was true. She really didn't have a place in the war between Eloquim and the Ninja. Plus, she'd killed Caroline, which gave her a smidge of brownie points in Kai's book. He absentmindedly tore the label off of his coffee cup. How long would this next hour take before he could go see his friends?

"Are you Kai Smith?"

Kai hadn't noticed the female police officer standing over him. She looked down at him expectantly, hands poised on her belt, fingering the gun at her side. Her blue uniform told him that she was Detective Lydia Manson. There was another, younger protégée officer at her side, who looked everywhere but at Kai. He stood up to meet them. Plenty of officers had already come in to talk to him about what had happened at Darkley's. He'd have to repeat the _whole_ story again, to his consternation.

"Yeah," he answered. Detective Manson nodded like she'd expected as much.

She held out her hand towards her deputy, who fumbled for something in his pocket. Kai watched in confusion. "Put your hands behind your back," she commanded.

Kai flinched, startled. "Wait, what? Why?" he asked. She roughly grabbed him to turn him around, pulling his arms behind his back. He heard the click of the hand cuffs after the cool metal wrapped around his wrist. Staring in disbelief at Lou and Edna's shocked faces, he felt the other clasp around his arm. "What's going on?"

"What are you doing?" asked Rikku's voice. Kai turned to see him returning with disoriented Julien at his side. The robot glanced between Kai's stricken expression and Detective Manson.

Lydia grabbed the back of Kai's jacket. "Kai James Smith," she said loudly, yanking him backwards into the custody of her deputy, "you're being arrested for first degree murder in the killing of Bradford K. Tudabone. You have the right to remain silent, and anything you say can and will be used against you."

Kai stared at her. She grabbed her radio off of her belt. "But I didn't kill him!" He cried. "He was perfectly fine when we left Darkley's." He'd finally been informed that the orange ninja was Brad Tudabone. Rikku gently put his hand on Lydia's shoulder.

"Surely there must be some mistake," he reasoned. "Kai didn't kill—er, Bradford. He attacked in self-defense."

Lydia pulled the walkie talkie out of its loop. "Maybe initially, but there is evidence of Bradford's stabbing, and your fingerprints are _all _over the scene, Mr. Smith." Lydia jerked her head in the direction of the hallway. The whole crowd that centered in the waiting room watched him closer than they watched the news on the T.V. Kai shook his head, trying to fight back, but Lydia shoved him towards the exit.

"_Stabbing_?! No, I didn't—I didn't _murder _Brad! Are you kidding me? No way! I left with the ambulance when they were walking up to him. There's evidence that I left. Ask anybody! I got here when the ambulance arrived!" Kai cried, but Lydia and her deputy shoved him forward. He looked back pleadingly at Rikku and the others. Rikku called after them, but Lydia used brute force to move Kai towards the sliding glass doors.

"Tell it to the judge," she snapped. Kai was hit with a cold burst of evening air when the automatic doors trailed open. This couldn't be happening. This could _not _be happening!

Lydia Manson and her deputy thrust Kai into the back of the police cruiser, waiting in front of the doors with the lights flashing red and blue. Rikku, Ed, Edna, and Lou ran after them. "Wait!" They called. Lydia barely turned to them. "He didn't do it! He was here the whole time!"

She pushed Kai's head downwards, forcing him into the seat. He mindlessly slung his legs into the inside of the car, looking deep into Rikku's eyes, begging him silently for something, for help, or whatever. He didn't kill Brad. He _hadn't _killed Brad. Kai had never left the hospital since they arrived, for crying out loud! How could his prints be all over the body when he was here? He was being _framed! _

Ignoring the pleas from Kai's friends, Lydia gave him a snarling grimace, head bent to glare him in the eye while the door was still open. "Murdering _scum," _she spat. Then she stood, giving him one last glower before she slammed the car door shut in his face, leaving a heavy, stunned echo in the empty police cruiser around him.

**NIGHTMARES FOR A NINJA, BOOK 3: THE KINGDOM OF DEATH**


	32. NFAN BOOK 4 AND FULL SUMMARY INSIDE!

**important A/N for NfaN readers!**

**Book 4, "Of Yin and Yang," has been created! Check it out on my profile, or search for NfaN, Book 4: Of Yin and Yang in the search bar. I hope to see you there and check out what the next adventures of the Ninja are!**

FULL SUMMARY of BOOK 4:

Eloquim the Deadly was defeated by Kai, returning peace to Ninjago once more. At least, that's the result he had HOPED for, until he realized he was being framed for murder. Not only that, but he begins to have strange dreams involving the famous "Blind One." Who is this _Blind One, _and why does Kai keep having dreams about him/her?

While Kai is trying to figure out how to redeem his ego _and_ his Eloquim-brainwashed sister and brothers, there's a prophecy stirring underneath the earth's surface. Lloyd Garmadon has been injected by a deadly substance that once took his father from him, and now threatens to take him too: the Devourer's Venom. Even though its completely against his will, he's going to have to get help from the obnoxious but strangely intriguing Seiko Mitsuhide, who faces tough struggles of her own. Can the two lean on each other, and figure out why Seiko has a Mind's Eye on the back of her hand, or will they fall under the weight of their own differences?

A new evil is brewing underneath Eloquim the Deadly's death. But this time, it doesn't need a Shadow Key to rise from the Underworld into Ninjago.

It's already there.

...

Why is Kai having dreams about the Blind One? Will Lloyd overcome the Devourer's venom, or will _it _overcome _him? _And why is Seiko suddenly changing and gaining new supernatural abilities. Old Ninjago and NFAN characters make a comeback, new characters and enemies come in to play, and the Seven is revealed. The nightmare for a ninja isn't over yet!

*****NOTE: Book 4 centers mostly around Lloyd, Seiko, and Garmadon, with minor character flashes to the Upperworlders until they are either combined/meet again, or nothing more can be described with one side to the next. **

**NfaN, Book 4 is now posted. Visit soon, and thanks for reading, guys!**


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